Historical “What if…?” questions #1

While these 2 questions and their answer options will undoubtedly not be what everyone thinks are the best, this is just a primary attempt to do a poll that has received, so far, the most positive responses on the ‘wanted poll’ poll.

 

Around the time of the invention of the automobile and into the mass production of Model T's, coal had become principal fuel source for steam engines, for trains, ships, and industrial machinery. Someone here is surely more knowledgeable than I, but I think it's fairly recent that steam engines still used today-- excursion trains, some ships-- began using liquid fuel. But of course if steam cars had become the trend decades ago, there would probably have been quicker adjustments to that source. Imagine driving across the country and having to stop frequently at 'coal stations' to put into fireboxes and having to stir and rake it and dump ashes to keep the steam up. Automobiles would have been too much trouble compared to going by train that it just wouldn't have happened without easier-to-burn fuel that was less work and less time, and definitely less volume necessary for that private vehicle. And then because of other problems involved in burning liquick fuel-- safe fuel pans, how to cool the metal parts without exposing them to water and ice-- I don't think that steam cars would have come nearly as popular as i.c. cars, and therefore the demand for oil to burn would not be nearly as great. We just wouldn't have gotten accustomed to zooming along highways at 70-75 mph in our own private metal and glass shells.