The two vintage "boxcab" locomotives 289A # 601 and # 607 in multiple traction are slowly running down the heavy 4.0 % grade of the "Tocopilla Railway" with a loaded nitrate train from the Maria Elena mine, giving electricity back to the catenary by the rheostatic brake via the pantograph of the leading locomotive. Normally, there was always an empty train going uphill at the same time, which could use this electricity for the journey and the two trains crossed each other halfway. The SQM (Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile) had 7 of this locomotives, which were built in 1927 by General Electric in Schenectady/New York. The Ferrocarril de Tocopilla a Toco (FCTT) was openend in 1890 with steam traction, the operation ceased in 2015 after heavy flood damage.
