Patterns of Steam captures the last glorious years of steam on the railways of Australia and New Zealand, the period in the 1960s and early 1970s when steam locomotives were in decline, but were still operating, though in diminishing numbers, much as they had for generations. The photographs continue up to 1985 to provide a glimpse of Australia’s remaining industrial steam and the revival of preserved steam locomotives in tourist service.

Patterns of Steam is a beautifully presented hard cover book of 208 pages, 300mm square, which contains 350 evocative black-and-white photographs. The book has been printed in duotone on heavy art paper to retain on the printed page the drama and subtlety of Shane McCarthy’s original photographs. It is a private publication of 2200 copies, intended for lovers of railways (including railway history) and fine art photography, who will be fascinated by the diversity of the photographs and the connections between them.