Most of the early industrial revolution was done with water wheels, steam engines came much later. Since most of the iron and copper extraction would be much mu

Most of the early industrial revolution was done with water wheels, steam engines came much later. Since most of the iron and copper extraction would be much much easier since you could loot them from pre-collapse cities, it could be a wash. And of course if even a single library survives mostly intact then our successors will get an absolutely massive jump start. Just a single "principles of physics" college textbook contains centuries of research.