Railway Wargaming board

[Westfalia Chris]

Remembering that I read something about that, I did a little research and came up with this link (only in german, sorry):
http://www.3sat.de/dynamic/sitegen/bin/sitegen.php?tab=2&source=/nano/cstuecke/19905/index.html
This is about modern steam engines, their efficiency and a company in Switzerland building them. Here it is said, that they're fully occupied with modernizing old or building new engines, because of high demand.
So you're not off with your believe at all 

Interesting read! Apparently, they could actually compete with Diesels on non-electrified routes, where there is no existing electrical infrastructure. But I´m still dubious if a light oil-powered steam loco would have a significantly power output/weight ratio than an electrical locomotive.

Edit: After enquiring with a subject matter expert, my verdict is that even those new-technology steam locomotives´ power efficiency will not come close to Diesel engines´ 20+%, much less electrical engines´ 30+%. So they will probably remain a curiosity, or only ever used in areas where electrification is impractical and Diesel engines are too expensive... an unlikely prospect for Europe, I think.

[former user]

steam has got the power that will pull as along,
theres a light at the end of the tunnel....

actually most of our electricity is generated by steam turbines (maybe not in france), so we are still in the steam age