Harold Edmonson & I were in Zacapa, Guatemala on a Monday morning in 1971. After a nice breakfast in the Hotel Ferrocarril, we got in my rented VW and drove just out of town a mile or so to wait on the mixed local that was heading back to Guatemala City.
We parked by a big truss bridge and then heard the whistle as the train left town. Pretty soon it showed up, getting along pretty good for coming up a slight grade. We both got our photos of the head end and jumped back in the car to continue the chase. Imagine our surprise when the rear of the train went by us with a Consolidation helping behind the rear car, running backwards no less! We followed this for maybe a mile when the pin was lifted and the 2-8-0 slowed down and let the local continue. She then went back to her more mundane duties in the yard.
We followed this train for most of the day and thanks to Harold's prior knowledge of the line, were able to get some really nice images. I look at them now & realize just how fortunate we were back then. The locomotive used that day was Krupp-built 2-8-2 174, which turned out to be one of my all time favorites.