Steam Locomotive Continued (2.0 + SE)

The Steam locomotive is the train the early game deserves: a real firebox, a real boiler, and a water tank you fill with a pump. No magic — fuel heats the fire, the fire raises steam, and steam pressure decides how fast you go.

Part of the same "Continued" family as Realistic Electric Trains Continued (2.0 + SE), Diesel Locomotive Continued (2.0 + SE) and Fluid Trains Continued (2.0 + SE) (the pumping framework this mod runs on).

The boiler

Open the locomotive and a Boiler panel shows three live gauges:

• Fire — climbs while coal, wood or solid fuel sits in the firebox
• Steam pressure — builds once the fire is hot, read in psi like a real boiler (working pressure 200–300 psi turns the gauge green)
• Water — 1000 units, pumped straight in at any stop; boils off slowly while standing and faster at speed

Run out of water and the fire is raked out until you pump more in — no water means no steam, no matter how much coal you shovel. Run out of fuel and the last shovelful burns away while you coast.

Fuel

• Coal — the classic: full working pressure, ~190 km/h ceiling
• Solid fuel — same ceiling, burns three times longer per item, slightly punchier — keeps steam relevant once your oil industry starts
• Wood — slower (~152 km/h) but cleaner, and you were going to burn those trees anyway
• Fuels more energetic than solid fuel are strongly discouraged by the boiler inspectorate. The stoker will hand them straight back. Once.

Water logistics

• Refuel with water via pump at any stop; the pump arms visually deploy, clamp, and retract, and departure waits for them to stow
• Couple a fluid wagon full of water as a tender and the locomotive draws from it en route (tender behaviour configurable in map settings)

Progression

The first step of a steam → diesel → electric ladder: unlocked by the railway technology itself, deliberately slower than the Diesel locomotive, with the electric endgame provided by Realistic Electric Trains Continued. A later phase adds an optional startup setting replacing the vanilla locomotive entirely.

Compatibility

Tested with Space Exploration, Combat Mechanics Overhaul, Realistic Electric Trains Continued and Diesel Locomotive Continued. Requires Fluid Trains Continued ≥ 2.0.2.

Credits

Locomotive art and wheel-animation technique from Steam Locomotive (steamtrain-redux-redux) by IonShield (The Unlicense / public domain), with credit through the redux chain. Balance referenced against Steam Lokomotive (dr-br-24) by GoTo_53 (MIT) — stats only, no code or art reused. Framework based on fluidTrains by ksmonkey123 (MIT), with lineage credit to evildogbot100, FuryOfTheStars and archiehalliwell.