My last question for tonight from me concerning trains....?

Question

Although it's VERY unlikely, might there be a return of the steam locomotive?

Answer 1

No Mike, I'm afraid not. They are labor intensive to maintain, require a lot maintenance besides, are are not fuel efficient. They do have a lot of power though. But it's cheaper to put together 2 or 3 Diesel Electrics at the head end of a train than it is to run one steamer.

Answer 2

the demand for them is long gone!.....

Answer 3

nope. way to inefficient

Answer 4

No.  Absolutely not.

Answer 5

no.. but it would be cool.  my dad used to be an ash cat at a railway muesem.  if you want somthing interesting to look at.  do a web search of the steam turbine trains, gas turbine trains, hydrogen powered, and i have even found some old trains magazines from the 1950's talking about nuclear powered trains

Answer 6

Many foriegn railways still use steam locos. They're popular in countries such as China, and other less rail-developed countries. While it would be neat to see them in full-force again, it's not very efficient. Judging by the weight and length of some of today's trains, multiple steam locos would be needed just for half of what three diesel-electrics can pull today. I don't think they will really dissapear for a great time to come. Many are maintained and restored, and better yet, RAN!

Answer 7

Mike you may have seen this before, consider the amount of time and labor needed to get an oil burning steam loco on the road. Coal burners are possibly worse.  

http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/hostling.html

A lot of things could have been done 40 or 50 years ago to reduce the amount of labor needed to keep steam locos on the road.  For example treatment of boiler water, more attention to quality of fuel and water, more use of roller bearings where possible, better materials and design practices around the valves and cylinders, also pushing some of the exhaust steam through the firebox to reduce clinker etc.    

The design team behind the 5AT proposal in the UK have looked into this but the central problem is getting the boiler up to temperature from cold.  You can't plant a roaring fire in a cold loco without wrecking the boiler through thermal shock.  You have to warm it up slowly.  

There is a lot of stuff on the net about the career of L.D. Porta, one of the last engineers to work seriously on steam and about the career of Dave Wardale, his student.  

I can imagine that if oil completely ran out there might be a return to coal fired locos in some form, but they might be electrics powered by coal burning power stations.

Answer 8

No, not likely, very inefficient, they burned a lot of fuel compared to deisels for each ton/mile.

Maintenance was greatly reduced by the move to deisels, look at the number of huge roundhouses that have been torn down.

You will see a few old steamers continue to be restored but purely for nostalgia's sake.

Steam may be used in some sort of turbine application but I am a bit skeptical of that too.

Answer 9

I answered a similar question some time ago and will just include it here as well since it applies.  But in short, no, it is very unlikely steam will ever return as the railroad industry's prime motive power in moving freight:

"Two things are essentially what killed steam; high maintenance costs and slow transit times when compared to diesels (meaning steamers required many more refueling stops, driving up the time it took to deliver a train considerably compared to diesels).

It's a common misconception that diesels (technically "diesel-electrics") replaced steam simply because they were more powerful which is not the case. The truth is that it was actually the complete opposite with a steam locomotive like the Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy (developed in the 1940s and the near pennical of geared steam technology) which was able to produce something like 6,000 hp compared to the EMD FT diesel locomotive (the over-the-road diesel which spearheaded steam's demise) which only produced 1,500 hp.

The diesel's advantage over steam was its significantly reduced maintenance costs and transit times, and the railroads were willing to accept a loss in horsepower for this (for instance, a diesel locomotive not only required far fewer refueling stops but also spent more time lugging freights and passengers between PMs and major overhauls compared to steamers, which the railroads absolutely loved!), which is really saying something considering railroads were and still are very slow to any type of wholesale changes, whatever those changes might be (ranging from new technologies to new types of business practices). Although, a common rule of thumb is that any new technology or practice that can considerably cut costs, railroads are quick to adopt these (the industry loves redundancy).

Lastly, as recently as the 1980s a project was studied to see if steam could be a viable source of motive power again with the ACE 3000 from then railroads Chessie System and Burlington Northern. While interesting the concept never proved that steam was more efficient than current diesel technology (another thing to keep in mind that even if steam does become a source of railroad motive power once again it will not look like the classic geared locomotives we all know and love today which operate on tourist railroads across the country but appear more like the ACE 3000 project).

The ACE project was studied in regards to high oil prices. Of course, oil prices are skyrocketing again today and if they reach critical levels at some point that railroads find it necessary to find a way to reduce fuel costs with diesels, they are more likely to spend the necessary money to electrify key main lines than spend time and money developing a better steam locomotive. Electrics are already a proven (albeit costly) alternative and they are actually the most efficient of all types of motive power, far superior to both diesel and steam.

In any event, I love steamers as much as the next person, they are truly a sight to behold and are relics which we should not only remember but also preserve as many as possible for future generations to see, enjoy, and experience. So, if you have a chance and the time please consider visiting one of the several tourist lines across the country which feature a steam locomotive(s), you won't be disappointed in the experience!"