Trains

What is it about steam trains which excites whereas electric and diesel simply bore?  When I travelled on steam trains as a child (real ones, not just preserved lines), whenever I could, I would open the window and stick my head out, catching a glimpse of the train at the front and enjoying the noise and the smell. If I hear the sound of an old steam train whistle, a wave of nostalgia hits me. Maybe they were dirtier but the sound of the steam powering the pistons fully made up for that. One house that I lived at had a deep cut at the bottom of the garden and I sometimes used to go down the bank just to see, hear, smell and feel those trains.