It was a magnet for rail fans before closing in August 2015 after severe rainfall damaged the tracks to the extent that the owner decided it was beyond economic repair.

Its history was influenced primarily by two factors: the rise and fall of the Chilean nitrate industry in particular SQM and its predecessors, and the evolution of railway traction technology from steam to electric and diesel motive power.

In October of that year, construction of the "Santa Isabel" saltpetre plant began; this was the planned terminus of the railway.

[1] Starting from the port, the line climbed steeply with a ruling gradient of 4.1% up the steep sides of the Barriles valley until it reached the plains.

In order to minimise works such as bridges, tunnels , cuttings and embankments, and thus the cost of construction, the alignment comprised a reverse and 211 curves with a minimum radius of only 55 m .

Thousands of Chilean workers and former coolies of Peru, at a significant cost of human life had built what the engineer in charge, Manuel Ossa Ruiz, called "one of the most daring railroads on the Pacific coast".

In addition to the difficult terrain, there was another significant issue for the operation of steam locomotives: the absence of fresh water.

[5] After the inauguration on 15 November 1890, other nitrate plants sprang up necessitating the construction of additional branches: in 1895 to "Peregrina" and "Santa Fe" (passing through "Buena Esperanza" and "Iberia").

The construction of the mechanized plant "Coya Norte" (known as "María Elena" since 1927) necessitated a new branch, which starting just below the Central station.

The branch had several intermediate stations of Tigre, Central (new) Colupito, Cerrillos, Tupiza and María Elena.

The 116 km María Elena - Pedro de Valdivia branch became the main line; in the 1930s the railroad carried over one million tons.

[8] In August 2015 unprecedented flash flooding caused numerous washouts on the electric section of the railroad, most notably the area around the switchback on the escarpment leading down to the port at Tocopilla.

As a result of this, along with the declining prospects for nitrate, the railroad ceased all operations, both electric and diesel, in late November 2015.