During a military training cruise to South America in 1975, we visited the port of Iquique in northern Chile, during which we had a special rail excursion laid on for the crews of the ships in our squadron.

The trip out of the port climbed this very steep escarpment to get onto the plateau at the top, on the edge of the Atacama Desert, and I remember at least four switchbacks on the climb and on the descent.

The trip was diesel-powered (an EMD G-series export locomotive), but the railroad was still also operating steam at the time. We passed a steamer on a switching move while the train was heading out of town.