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The 5AT kind of defeats the purpose of "modern" steam. As Paul points out, why run a reciprocating locomotive on diesel which is a less efficient use than plain ol diesel-electric? Two points: If you are going to build a modern steam locomotive, you will try and incorporate coal as your primary fuel in some form. And instead of reciprocating power, you will burn that coal to produce electricity to run traction motors. Regarding coal, there are several examples of "synthetic coal". The Rosebud clean coal project thermally and mechanically produced a coal with lower moisture and reduced ash/non-volatiles, but it had a tendency to spontaneous combust so had to be transported in closed hoppers, still could work in a normal tender. The CENFuel project produced a nearly pure carbon product by using chemical alteration to remove the moisture/ash/metals, but they are now focused on the higher price carbon black markets. Other synthetic coal products include producing liquid fuels such as coal-water slurry, methanol, and even a form of diesel. Whether they can do so at lower cost than standard petroleum-based liquid fuels remains to be seen. At this point, the micronized solid syncoals represent the lowest cost items and most practical. Regarding the engine, probably the best solution is to either gasifiy the coal on board or liquify it beforehand and then burn it through an array of microturbines to produce electricity for traction. The use of the microturbine array allows for adjustable power settings rather than a single constant (and thus wasteful) full power output such as was experienced in the older UP turbines. The micorturbines can be turned on and off at will. I guess it is also possible to develop a reciprocating/electric traction hybrid with a dual-phase steam system, with part of the steam going to produce electricity for traction motors on the lead and trailing trucks and/or fuel tender trucks, and the other part going directly into steam cylinders. This dual mode would allow maximum tractive effort at lower speeds with the traction motors, and higher efficiency at higher speeds with the reciprocating drivers. Air adjustable suspensions would allow some transfer of locomotive weight onto or off either the drivers or the traction wheels as needed to allow maximum tractive effort. With micronized synthetic coals you wouldn't need a very large firebox, so you might be able to replace the usual trailing truck with a set of drivers. Some kind of Garrett like set up would be likely, with an engine-tender-engine configuration in a B+4+4+B+B+4+4+B is the first logical wheel configuration that comes to mind.
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