What are the advantages of steam engines?

Advantages of the Steam Engine over Wind-Mills and Water-Mills : 1. A steam engine (or external combustion engine) could be located anywhere because water is heated in a separate boiler to produce steam. The steam engine, with its boiler, could be taken to any place of work. read more

The major limitations or disadvantages of a steam engine or external combustion engine are a steam engine is huge and heavy. (That is, An external combustion engine is huge and heavy). Due to its big boiler and furnace a steam engine is huge, heavy and clumsy. read more

The major advantage was historically, that steam was discovered and steam engines invented first, and perfected a long time before combustion engines. The flexibility of steam is that you have massive torque at low speed so no gearbox or clutch is required, and steam engines as a vehicle motor can be very simply reversed, and steam engines are/were generally a whole lot quieter than infernal combustion motors. read more