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[quote user="AltonFan"] [quote user="tattooguy67"]Hi everybody, please forgive me if this has been asked already( i looked in the search area and did not see it) or is kinda dumb, what i am wondering is this, with the price of oil going up so much, the fact that we have a buttload of coal in this country, and also the fact that steel is much better now and so are manufacturing techniques would it be possible or feasible for steam locomotives to make economic sense? please let me know your thoughts on this, thanks much.[/quote]I doubt at this stage of the game, fuel costs will result in the return of the steam locomotive.  A more likely solution to the problem will be to find an alternative fuel for a diesel prime mover, rather than revert to steam.Electric traction offers too many advantages to be abandoned.What's more, whatever solution is found will also have to conform to environmental regulations.  Strict rules on diesel emissions are going into effect in the near future, and it would seem to me that if a change of fuel is in the works, it will have to conform to present environmental regulations.[/quote]It would be entirely possible to return to steam while retaining the favorable attributes of the diesels such as electric traction, comfort cabs, computer controls, ease of fuel handling, the abitlity to M.U., and the ability to meet all environmental regulations now and in the future.Alternate fuel for diesels is another option to combat the high price of oil.  It's just that that option has to compete with coal and the best locomotive that can burn it.
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