A beautiful display of engineering from the age of steam, or a polluting relic?
What incredible pollution! I bet it's very fun to ride on that ship and watch the thick smoke trail away overhead, without having to breath too much of it in.
Now I'm no expert here, but the blacker the smoke, it may not always mean the worse environmentally... just a gander, this steem engine probably isn't 100s of times more detrimental than its diesel successors, although it sure does look it.
Well the black comes from microscopic soot particles. So it depends on what you mean by "worse environmentally" . From a global warming perspective your right it is not much worse. From a PM2.5 particulate emissions perspective it is much much worse for the people who breathe in the soot as it can cause cancer and other lung issues. This is why in Europe they are starting to ban diesel cars in cities due to escalating health related PM2.5 issues (https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/925353/Germany-diesel-ban-fuel-Europe-cars). It is the contrast with the pristine alpine environment here which makes it interesting. As a process/chemical engineer I love the fact this steam unit is still operational ; but in this day and age it is hard not to see it as environmental vandalism I think.