There's actually a meter-gauge track underneath this Chilean State Railways diesel as it leads a string of passenger rolling stock up the escarpment outside of Iquique, one of the country's northern port cities.

The train was a special excursion laid on for the crews of several U.S. Navy warships visiting Iquique as part of the 1975 UNITAS (Unity) training cruise around South America.

Trains climbing out of Iquique must traverse several switchbacks in order to reach to top of the escarpment, which is on the edge of the Atacama Desert.

Photographed by Thomas McCann, August 31, 1975.
Added to the photo archive by Thomas McCann, June 15, 2010.

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