alternatehistory.com

In the 1940s, some railroads experimenting with using turbine-powered locomotives, as an alternative to diesels, in replacing traditional steam. They were designed to run on a variety of fuels, including pulverized or gasified coal. The main problem was that the turbines ran at 100% of capacity all the time, which meant that unless the locomotive were working at full capacity (if it were idling, for example), it was very wasteful of fuel compared with the diesels.

But, what if that engineering hurdle had been overcome, and the railroad system were able to modernize on a fuel system that was not necessarily tied to petroleum?
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