According to their website they still run one steamer. Don’t count on it lasting forever though, make the trip this summer if you can! I’ve also hiked up the mountain …if you’re in fairly good shape you can walk up and down in a few hours…
I took a steam train up the mountain in 1976… seeing the little cog engines up close was quite an experience I’ll always remember. Most likely they had to switch to diesel due to environmental factors and the age of the engines.
The reasons for the switch aren’t hidden and have even been talked about in this publication. Didn’t have anything to do with the condition of the steam fleet or environmental laws (Although they had some trouble there briefly back in the 70’s).
Leo, suggest to read what I wrote again. It was the economics of the STEAM alternatives, not the alternatives to steam. Despite being aggressively well maintained for safety purposes, eight of the engines out of 10 are well over 100 years old and are tired and beyond the normal service life of 25 years for a steam locomotive by a factor of four plus. The operating costs under steam were pricing the ride out of the market for the average US family while the Auto Road cost differential was widening over time. Railfans make up a very small percentage of riders and the non-railfans are there for the ride, not the quaint motive power. As it is, at least one train a day is steam powered.