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Maybe the answer to the question, why isn't steam making a comeback? is that the economics if rising oil prices have not yet reached the point where it happens.  The fact that diesels are still used in ships does not mean that steam will never make a comeback.  Steam may make a comeback in ships and locomotives.  It may even comeback in ships first.  I noticed that there are two underlying themes of the question of the thread, Could steam make a comeback? One theme is that the rising price of oil will force a fuel substitution, and that the substitute fuel would be coal.  Then there are three subdivisions of that theme as follows:  1)        Burn coal directly in locomotives2)        Electrify the railroads, and burn coal in fixed power plants to generate electricity to power them. 3)        Convert the coal to liquid fuel that would be burned in locomotives. There are also propulsion subdivisions to the first subdivision above as follows: 1)        Burn coal in locomotives to make steam for reciprocating propulsion.2)        Burn coal in locomotives to make steam for turbine propulsion.3)        Burn coal in locomotives to make gas for turbine propulsion.4)        Burn coal in locomotives as direct fuel for diesel engines. Number 3 and 4 fall outside of the specific question about steam making a comeback, but are implied in the connection with alternate fuel driving the possible comeback of steam. Then there is the second of the two main themes of the question, Could steam make a comeback?  That second theme is that the railroads made a mistake by abandoning steam for diesel in the first place.Personally, I see the possibility of steam making a comeback being entirely related to the rising cost of fuel and not at all to the possibility of dieselization being a mistake in the first place.
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