They're ok. I once took a ride on a train pulled by a coal fired steam locomotive, but it broke down about a hundred miles into the trip and had to be towed backwards by a modern locomotive back to its starting point.
used to load bulk borate on railcars at the port, that was fun... Our company also ran the port locomotives, so have ridden on one as well, but not driven it. Hot and noisy, but great when it was freezing outside, lol.