Are steam engines more efficient than diesel?

Firstly the diesel engine has an impressively high thermal efficiency – with modern diesel engines achieving 45\% efficiency compared to a steam engines 10\% giving them to achieve greater distances between refuelling stops.

How efficient can a steam engine be?

Steam engines and turbines operate on the Rankine cycle which has a maximum Carnot efficiency of 63\% for practical engines, with steam turbine power plants able to achieve efficiency in the mid 40\% range.

Are steam engines more efficient?

Steam engines, on the other hand, are simpler and more efficient and can use a variety of fuels. Unlike a regular internal combustion engine, which explodes a mixture of fuel and air hundreds of times a second inside its cylinders to drive the pistons, steam engines burn fuel continuously in a different chamber.

Are steam engines cheaper?

On steam’s side was tradition-plus the fact that steam locomotives were much less expensive to build than diesels. There the economic edge ended, however, as diesels were far cheaper to operate. Fuel costs were less, for openers, but that was just the beginning.

How efficient is a train steam engine?

In the last 30 years of US steam (1930-1960), the typical steam locomotive had a thermal efficiency of about six percent, meaning that for every 100 BTU’s of coal burned, six BTU’s of horsepower were produced. A modern AC traction diesel is almost 36 percent thermally efficient at the drawbar, by comparison.

How are electric trains better than steam trains?

According to railway-technology.com, electric trains are more environmentally friendly too, emitting between 20\% – 30\% less carbon monoxide than their diesel counterparts. Fuel costs per mile is 47p for diesel and 26p for electric trains and even track wear and tear is said to be more expensive with diesel trains.

Which locomotive steam engines have the highest efficiency?

The four-cylinder “Argentina” is the most efficient steam locomotive ever built.

How much horsepower can a steam engine have?

The horsepower range of other steam locomotives falls anywhere from less than 1,000 horsepower, to 7,000 horsepower or more, but again, once we got past the 4–4–0 “American” locomotive that was the mainstay of the early to mid 1800’s, steam locomotives were specifically designed for different classes of service.

How much power does a steam locomotive make?

Converting locomotives’ tractive effort figures into horsepower isn’t particularly straightforward, but this 899,000-pound behemoth could produce at least 5,700 horsepower at 40 miles per hour according to Railroad Artifact Preservation Society, a figure accurate for a 1930-spec version of this locomotive operated by …