This photograph is titled “Ferrocarril Mexicano, Tunel No. 10” and was attributed to Grove and North. This picture was taken somewhere between 1890-1899 in Veracruz-Llave, Mexico. There isn’t a lot of action taking place in this photograph. There simply is a train on railroad tracks. Although this photograph appears to be simplistic, I feel the photographer captured and used the tough terrain surrounding the railroad to provoke the thought of how much labor was put into this accomplishment. What I also found interesting about this photograph was that the train does not look very safe or productive. I believe it looks like a little hut with wheels moving along the railroad. Additionally, there is no railing on the bridge to protect the train from toppling over. From all of these observations, I deduced that the construction of this railway must have been intensive and rigorous due to the steep terrain. It must have taken a lot of workers and hard labor to produce not only this bridge on this steep mountainside but also the tunnel going through the side of the mountain. Furthermore, I believe that there must have been a lot of safety issues concerning both the train as well as the bridge. I envision a lot of train accidents from this section of the railroad. This photograph leaves me with many questions. For one, how did the laborers get up there and perform this intensive work? Who was the labor? How long did it take to make this part of the railway? Most importantly, was train travel safe?
Mountainous Train Tracks in Mexico
