I had the same feeling when I first rode it. It’s wasteful - a theme park is fundamentally wasteful. But it’s the only time in my life I’ll get to ride a steam engine. And for many others, the only time they’ll ever be on a train.

> But it’s the only time in my life I’ll get to ride a steam engin

There are historic steam engines operating all over the US. I know of a few in Northern California alone. But not coal mind you, most are oil fired.

Yeah, that was my thought. I'd love to see steam trains converted to electricity or even diesel in a way that basically they still look like steam trains to the casual observer, but without all the coal burning.

What's the point of the look if they're electric? A few steam engines operating for historical tourism doesn't seem like a big issue for emissions compared to the millions of ICE cars. We should keep them operating on their original fuel.

While it would be fabulously, fantastically inefficient, you _could_ in principle have an electric-heated steam engine.

This has actually occasionally been done! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric–steam_locomotive

> A few steam engines operating for historical tourism doesn't seem like a big issue for emissions compared to the millions of ICE cars. We should keep them operating on their original fuel.

The CO2 emissions aren't the only issue; they are _seriously_ dirty. Probably fine in Dollywood where it's presumably quite open, but in some countries it's somewhat common to run 'heritage' engines on main lines as an event, and it can really be _pretty bad_ in enclosed stations.

Just like every car doesn't seem like a big deal compared to all the other millions of cars.