User blog comment:MiniDaggers/RWBY Volume 4 Commentary Summary/@comment-25936766-20170623001241/@comment-4010415-20170623045710

@ Airships - Indeed. I tried doing a Google Image search for "steampunk airship" and it seemed like 99% of the results involved blimps, which really wouldn't be reasonable in Remnant, considering there are flying monsters with sharp talons and pointy beaks. Not to mention that, in warfare against humans or Faunus, someone could just shoot the blimp. So, Mistral has instead gone with propellers and fin-like sails.

@ Trains - The only thing that's remotely "steampunk" about the trains is what seems to be pipes that carry energy from possibly steam Dust. In other words, seam-powered, with pipes and whatnot, but not quite the ol' Victorian aesthetic.

Most of what we saw in volume 4 was outside the Kingdom of Mistral or on Oscar's super rural farm, so perhaps we'll see something different in volume 5.