Did you ever read 'Jack Faust' by Michael Swanwick? Retelling of the classic soul-selling tale, but with the twist that all wordly knowledge only seems to extend to the intellectual boundaries of the owner. Consequently the victorian world gets mass transit systems and computers, but they're all steam driven as the level of technological advancement of the time wouldn't allow for anything else :)

It's not wonderful and can be downright clumsy in places, but it does have some interesting ideas.