The third and last "Kitson Meyer", type Z Locomotive of the old Transandean Railway from Los Andes to Mendoza, rests under the sun at the Quinta Normal Railway Museum. This locomotive was the last of a series of three, to be delivered to operation for the Chilean section of the railway in 1909. Built by Kitson in Leeds, UK, it was originally numbered No9 and later designated by the State Railways as Z-3349, it operated uninterruptedly until 1971.
This series were conceived as the main locomotives for the railway, pulling both passenger and freight trains in the high mountain areas. To achieve this goal, these locomotive were equipped with 4 driven adhesion axles (front bogie), 2 Abt cogwheel axles (rear bogie) and one additional cogwheel axle between the two first powered adhesion wheels, which was powered by a third pair of cylinders located above the adhesion ones. All three Z type engines were modified in 1911 and the front cogwheel drive was removed. Today only 2 of the 3 locomotives survive, Z-3349 (ex No9) displayed above and Z-3348 (ex No8) in the old Workshops of Los Andes, both in good condition.
