In 1959 Frank Barry moved to Mexico to work for the American Friends Service Committee. Fresh out of college, he arrived with a rucksack, a Rolleicord camera, a tripod, and a quest: to visit and photograph every line of the National Railways of Mexico (NdeM) that still ran steam. He spent every weekend and vacation traveling mostly on foot, climbing trees and cliffs to get the right shot, sometimes riding on top of boxcars, or in the engine cab—taking photos and collecting stories. By the end of two years, he had traveled in 26 of Mexico’s 31 states and territories to cover nearly every steam-operated route on the NdeM.
Years later, revisiting his photos for an exhibit at the Johnson Museum of Art, he saw things he hadn’t noticed before: women wearing rebozos with children on their backs; a campesino with his burro alongside the tracks; a little boy riding an engine being turned by hand like a merry-go-round.
He realized that something had happened while his photos were sitting quietly in their boxes: They had become historic. Besides photographing the machines he loved, he had unknowingly captured a way of life that has perhaps otherwise been forgotten.
Each of the first 11 chapters of "Chasing Steam" consists of a collection of stories that took place on a division or subdivision of the NdeM; chapter 12 does the same for the United Railways of Yucatan; and chapter 13 covers the small railroads: short lines and industrials. Each chapter begins with a map, so the reader can follow along with the author on each of his rides.
Equally as compelling as the 326 photographs in this 368-page coffee-table book are the tales that go along with them. By turns suspenseful, funny, distressing, informative, remarkable, and heartwarming, his stories chronicle a time when the railroads were a central part of daily life for many people. Included at the end of most chapters are historical notes and a gallery of exceptional images that weren't part of Frank's storytelling. A story of adventure travel long before it became a trend, this is the kind of book that will captivate any true railfan—and might even convert the nonbeliever.
The book costs $80.00, plus $9.25 for shipping and handling in the U.S.
We also have a pay-what-you-can option, where you can pay anything from $50 to $80. We know the world is a wild place right now and money is tight for lots of folks and we want to make the book as affordable as we can. Please don’t hesitate to hit the pay-what-you-can button if it makes things easier for you! (But please add the $9.25 shipping cost.) If you’d prefer to send a check than buy online, please email rebecca@rebeccabarry.net for details.
If you’d like to have it shipped internationally, the price goes up significantly depending on where it is going. Contact us at rebecca@rebeccabarry.net for a quote.
Thank you so much for your interest in Frank’s work. This book has been a meaningful project for our family, and we are so excited to share it with you.
FRANK BARRY PHOTOGRAPHY
From the time he was 7 years old, Frank Barry has been chasing and photographing trains. His work has appeared in over 90 publications, including Trains, Classic Trains, The Washington Post Magazine, and 100 Greatest Rail Photos. Chasing Steam in Mexico is his second book. For information on his first book, The Last Winter, see below.
THE LAST WINTER
This striking collection of photos by rail photographer Frank Barry features pictures taken on a section of the Denver & Rio Grande Western between Chama, New Mexico, and Antonito, Colorado, in the winter of 1963-64. It was the last time that steam engines hauled long-distance cargo trains year-round in the United States, though steam now runs on that route with the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
The book includes stories by the photographer about where and how each picture was taken. It was edited, designed, and produced by Frank’s daughter Rebecca and his son-in-law Tommy Dunne, with a foreword written by his wife, Barbara.
Below, read the review of The Last Winter by Kevin P. Keefe which appeared in Classic Trains magazine and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.
Frank Barry honors the Colorado narrow gauge
In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Denver & Rio Grande Western’s narrow-gauge lines in southwest Colorado and a bit of northern New Mexico drew photographers like hummingbirds to columbines.
And why not? What could be more magical than this Brigadoon-like world of three-foot-gauge track, wooden cars, and 2-8-2’s, surrounded by the majesty of the San Juan Mountains?
An A-list of shooters descended over the years on Antonito, Chama, Durango, Silverton, and other memorable places on the “silver San Juan.” You’d recognize the names: Dick Kindick, Otto Perry, Philip R. Hastings, John Gruber, Jim Shaughnessy, Dick Steinheimer, and so many more.
That list would not be complete without including Frank Barry, an insightful photographer whose penetrating black-and-white images just might convey better than anyone else’s the last months of regular steam freight service on D&RGW. The evidence is in a lovely book called “The Last Winter,” just out on Barry’s own Fresh Dirt Publications imprint.
It’s a big book in format — the 12 x 12 size allows for generous images — and the printing and paper quality more than make up for the relatively compact 66 pages. The hardcover book is priced at $40 and is available at the photographer’s website, www.frankbarryphotography.com.
The book chronicles Barry’s various visits to D&RGW steam territory but, as the title implies, specifically concentrates on the winter of 1963-’64 at Chama, where Barry and his wife, Barbara, holed up for several months. From there they covered virtually all of the narrow gauge between Antonito on the east and Durango in the west.
Barry’s book has won the endorsement of Scott Lothes, executive director of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art (www.railphoto-art.org), which in the past has showcased the photographer at its annual conference.
“As a steam photographer, Frank inserted himself deeply into the places, operations, and communities he was covering,” Lothes says. “By living and working in Chama, he got to know the Rio Grande narrow gauge lines far better than the typical photographer who just visited the area for a few days. Frank’s ‘residential’ approach gives his work an intimacy that still resounds nearly six decades later.”
Barry’s motivation was simple: he wanted to catch what he calls “the last long-distance steam locomotive show in the United States.”
Frank and Barbara were outlanders, as it were, Easterners who had decamped from Pennsylvania to experience winter in the mountains. They were a young couple with a sense of adventure, something that shows up in the book’s engaging text, which includes a lovely essay by Barbara. This was a railfan spouse who earned her stripes! Just listen to her description of getting dragged over to the Chama enginehouse in the dead of winter:
It was cold, so I didn’t want to go, but he was excited, I thought, it’s an adventure, and put on my coat and boots. We went to the railroad yard and there was this big snow-bedecked engine softly steaming as it settled down from its run. It was magical. I held the shutter open as Frank ran around and fired off flash bulbs and I thought to myself, Now I can see what he sees!”
Frank Barry saw a lot, especially when it came to creating sweeping portraits of a majestic landscape challenged by small but powerful steam locomotives. Nearly all the fabled locations on the D&RGW are here: a 2-8-2 lugs cattle cars up to Windy Point; a lead engine and helper eases a train over Lobato Trestle; an eastbound freight is silhouetted against a blindingly brilliant snowscape at Los Pinos; a 2-8-2 and helper send a cannonade of exhaust smoke skyward as they hug the mountainside between Cresco and Coxo.
In perhaps my favorite photo in the book — I should say my favorite three photos —a train snakes its way through Toltec Gorge from a perspective showing what must be 40 miles of scenery in the distance. The huge image is actually a blending of three separate photographs into a composite print. Here, Barry truly captures the majesty of the San Juans and has made the good decision to carry it across the full 24 x 12 inches of a spread.
Barry’s photos have intimate moments, too: the bone-chilling cold of a winter night at the Chama shops as snow begins to blanket resting 2-8-2s awaiting the next morning’s assignments; the loading of cattle into stock cars, a ritual that would last but a few more months; and a view of the photographer himself, tending to that common curse of a railroad photographer in the field — a flat tire.
Barry is an engaging writer with a fine eye for detail, and he obviously took good notes. In summing up his experiences in and around Chama, he writes: “When I took these photos, the end was near, but I did not know I was in fact recording the very last winter of regular steam operation in severe weather conditions anywhere in North America. I was very lucky to be there.”
Thanks to Frank Barry’s often spectacular, sometimes heartbreaking book, we are, too.