International Railroad Discussion > FCTT Chile....their first new diesel

Chile's Ferrocarril Tocopilla al Toco was famous for it's electric line down the mountain to the coast,  complete with switchback,  using 1927-8 GE box cab electrics.  The line closed in August 2015 due to heavy damage from flash flooding.   A mostly flat portion of the line from Tigre to the huge phosphate processing plant at Maria Elena was never electrified and trains were diesel hauled beginning in the 1940s.  Here's a photo of Whitcomb No. 1 (builders #61193 (1952) , their first new diesel, somewhere on that line.   The unit seems to be posing with some company brass in April 1953.   H.F. Brown photo/my collection.

Today, SQM has no rail operations at all,  everything have ended in November 2015.

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That is one big Whitcomb ! Is this the biggest Whitcomb and what ever happenened to this unit?

The data showed 104 tons.  It was stored by 1978 and I assume scrapped not too long thereafter.  When I first visited SQM in 1992 there was no sign of it.   Unlike most other railways in Chile, SQM scrapped retired equipment quickly.