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My take: Steam locomotives have boilers. Boilers are always a pain. The boiler is by far the most maintenance intensive part of a steamer (usually, though, just because of inspections). As I recall, the NYC found a 4-8-4 to be slightly cheaper than a four unit diesel set. However, if you only needed a three unit set, the Niagara was just a waste of money. This is one aspect not often touched on that I feel needs more attention: Because, before computers, there was no practical way to MU steam locomotives, you needed a crew on each one. As a consequence, it was cheaper to overpower the train with one big steamer, and have only one crew. On a diesel, because of the MU, you could get the number of diesels you needed, and only one crew. Just one of many facets to the picture, but an interesting one. It's sort of abstract, I'm sorry if I lost anybody. A diesel has a higher starting tractive effort, but it drops off with speed much more quickly than a steamer's. So, while one ACWHATEVER might be able to start that two mile drag, it won't get all that much speed up. I've seen pictures of steamers doing some pretty incredible things, such as one 2-10-2 with 80-so cars going up Cajon Pass, and one 4-6-6-4 taking one hundred cars up Archer hill at a respectable pace. How many diesels do these trains get today? Read the Union Pacific section of The Last of Steam by Joe G. Colias for some incredible feats. In the end though, the diesel was more versatile. However, don't underestimate the fact that the FT was shiny, with a bright paint scheme. In a neck and neck passenger market, this is what made the difference. In my opinion, if the railroads had not cared about the shine factor, the progress of the diesel would have taken into the 1960's. Sincerely, Daniel Parks
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