[hodgesrm]

> The first steam engines were also written off as being less powerful than a horse.

Which steam engine do you mean and do you have a citation for this comment? The first industrial steam engines were based on the Newcomen design and were used to pump water out of mines. Their big drawback was efficiency, not power. They were only economical in coal mines, which had fuel immediately available at near zero cost.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcomen_atmospheric_engine