this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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That’s definitely part of it. Also not an expert, but I believe you have the gist of it. Diesel engines are more efficient for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is more efficient heat capture to use for Work.
Another factor would be that if you want to do an oil combustion into steam power, you have a few issues:
I’m sure there are even better reasons out there, but that’s what comes off the top of my head.
I think you're making an assumption there. You would need to consider energy density of the fuel. Diesel fuel has almost twice the energy density of coal. For the same trip, the weight of the diesel fuel you would need for an oil-fired steam engine would be just a little more than half the weight of coal needed for a coal-fired steam engine.
Also, delivering the diesel fuel to the boiler would require a less complex mechanism and/or less workers than coal.