It is also a sign of where something is in its cycle - when engines were first invented they laboured in mines originally, then moving traction engines/tractors, then trains - it was a long time before the average person owned an engine for their own use.

This was largely driven by the efficiency and fuel density.. so like, the mines specifically were coal mines which flood and need pumps, but obviously have unlimited coal. The engines/tractors were competing against oxen and horse, and it's hard to get a lot of power out of them. The trains had an easy time to carry lots of coal due to their nature.

I'm not actually sure where tractors fit in. I haven't heard of them in the equation early on. I think at some point they were probably viable, but I never heard of a coal powered tractor (maybe there were some). I suppose tractors could leave piles of coal and stuff if they needed to by the fields.

Steam Tractors were definitely a thing long before the development of the ICE. I'm not sure what the fuel used was, though. Hell we still have "steamrollers" that no longer run on steam.