Could steam trains make a comeback?

True, there is little or no chance of steam trains replacing electric and diesel trains on our modern rail network. But if steam remains history, it is an unusually active and extensive variety of history. Steam has made an impressive comeback under the guise of heritage, to become an enormous national asset.



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Despite the advent of electric and diesel locomotives in the mid-20th century, steam locomotives continued to be used and constructed into the 21st century. The regular use of steam locomotives in non-tourist revenue service concluded in 2022.

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There the economic edge ended, however, as diesels were far cheaper to operate. Fuel costs were less, for openers, but that was just the beginning. Typically, steam spent far too little time on the road and far too much in the shops and engine terminals being serviced and inspected.

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Railfan & Railroad stated in 2022 that the only places on earth to see steam locomotives in revenue freight service are small switching operations in China, North Korea and Bosnia, but that these were sporadic at best. Tourist locomotives are still in regular use.

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You can find small and large steam engines for sale on eBay. Look for a modern steam engine for sale in two-cylinder, three-cylinder, or six-cylinder builds. A two-cylinder steam engine produces 10 horsepower, and a three-cylinder generates 15 horsepower.

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There are somewhere around 200 operating steam locomotives in North America. That number has been gradually rising, because more museums and other actors are taking on restorations.

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With regular maintenance, British steam locomotives typically lasted for approximately 30 years of intensive use, before major components would need to be replaced or overhauled. For a steam locomotive built in 1960, the economic lifespan would have led to it being withdrawn in the 1990s.

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Diesels replaced steam locomotives because that's what they did - they are more efficient because they cost less money to run. This article, written by US locomotive engineer Al Krug in a series of newsgroup posts, tries to explain the power questions that show how diesels are more efficient than steam locomotives.

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Puffing Billy is the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive, constructed in 1813–1814 by colliery viewer William Hedley, enginewright Jonathan Forster and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne, in the United Kingdom.

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Big Boy No. 4014 is the world's largest operating steam locomotive.

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The old steam engines were usually run well below 40MPH due to problems with maintaining the tracks-- but could go much faster. I seem to recall a 45 mile run before 1900 in which a locomotive pulled a train at better than 65MPH... (Stanley Steamer cars were known to exceed 75MPH). 3.

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China continued to build mainline steam locomotives until the late 20th century, even building a few examples for American tourist operations. China was the last main-line user of steam locomotives, with use ending officially on the Jining–Tongliao Railway at the end of 2005.

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By the end of the 1950s the steam era was over and increasingly powerful diesels ruled the rails.

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Railfan & Railroad stated in 2022 that the only places on earth to see steam locomotives in revenue freight service are small switching operations in China, North Korea and Bosnia, but that these were sporadic at best. Tourist locomotives are still in regular use.

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