The EMD NW2 actually began production a few years before the Electro-Motive Corporation became an official division of General Motors. At the time of the switcher's construction, EMD was fast becoming the industry leader of diesel locomotive manufacturing having released its popular FT cab model that same year. This locomotive, almost by itself, spelled the end of steam. In any event, however, the model would go on to be EMD's most successful small switcher line although future NW designs were not nearly as successful. Overall, more than fifty Class I railroads would purchase over 1,100 EMD NW2s by the time its ten-year production was concluded in the late 1940s! Today, several of these resilient diesel switcher locomotives carry on and can still be seen in industrial applications, small shortlines, and tourist lines. This rugged design is a testament to the engineers and the folks at EMD involved in the model's creation.
Another of EMC's original models was the NW, with the "N" originally referring to nine-hundred horsepower and "W" standing for welded frame. However, by the time the NW2 model was developed its letter designation reference was dropped and simply referred to the model's name, as it could produce 1,000 horsepower using the company's new 12-cylinder, 567A model prime mover. The EMD NW2 featured the same, sloped frame near the cab and was just as short at only 44-feet in length. It came equipped with the standard B-B truck arrangement although now EMC/EMD switchers used GM-produced traction motors (model D37) and not those from General Electric, which could produce 31,000 pounds of continuous tractive effort and 62,500 pounds starting.
The SW1, Featuring The New 567 Prime Mover
The SW7, Another Favorite
The SW8, Providing Slightly More Power
The SW9, Maintaining Strong Sales
The 900 Horsepower SW900
The SW1000, Showcasing EMD's Second-Generation, 645 Prime Mover
The SW1001 Variant, Fixing A Problem
The SW1200, Continuing EMD's Dominance
The SW1500, Another Bestseller
For a locomotive that only weighed 124 tons and was just over 44 feet in length, this was quite powerful. Likely due to successful testing with early EMC switcher locomotives like the original NW or SC/SW models, and now with the backing of General Motors, sales for the EMD NW2 quickly took off. Not only were the little switchers ideal for any setting and application (industrial, yard duty, light branch work, etc.) but they were also inexpensive allowing both small and large roads to purchase them. EMD also offered a cow-calf version of the NW2 known as the TR, TR2, and TR3. The first and final models (TR, TR3) sold only to the Illinois Central (3 sets) and Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (2 sets). However, the TR2 was fairly successful selling 36 sets amongst the Belt Railway of Chicago, Milwaukee Road, Burlington, Chicago & North Western, Chicago Great Western, Illinois Central, and Southern. The "B" unit was simply a cabless NW2 offering extra horsepower and tractive effort.
Production on the EMD NW2 began in late winter, 1939 and by the end of its production run in December, 1949 some 1,145 units had been built (including "calf," or B, units) for over fifty Class Is and more than eighty railroads in all! It should be noted that the NW2 was popular with industries as companies like Wheeling Steel, Republic Steel Corporation, and especially the Phelps Dodge Corporation all purchased the locomotive. Additionally, it attracted interest from the U.S. Navy, which purchased five for various applications. Two years after the NW2 was developed EMC and the Winton Engine Company became an official division of General Motors on January 1, 1941.
Owner | Road Number(s) | Quantity | Date Built |
---|---|---|---|
Apalachicola Northern Railroad | 701-704 | 4 | 1947 |
Arkansas & Louisiana Missouri Railway | 10 | 1 | 1949 |
Atlantic Coast Line | 601-605 (Odds), 611-615 (Odds) | 6 | 1940-1942 |
Baltimore & Ohio | 400-408, 550-589 | 49 | 1940-1949 |
Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal (B&OCT) | 409-411 | 3 | 1943 |
Bangor & Aroostook | 800-803 | 4 | 1949 |
Boston & Maine | 1200-1213 | 14 | 1941-1949 |
Burlington | 9203-9248 | 46 | 1940-1949 |
Central Of Georgia | 20, 25 | 2 | 1941-1942 |
Central Railroad Of New Jersey (CNJ) | 1060-1061 | 2 | 1942 |
Chesapeake & Ohio | 1850-1856, 5066-5079, 5200-5213 | 35 | 1948-1949 |
Chicago & Eastern Illinois | 119-124 | 6 | 1949 |
Chicago & Western Indiana | 250-251 | 2 | 1947 |
Chicago Great Western | 16-31, 42 | 17 | 1948-1949 |
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha (C&NW) | 70 | 1 | 1940 |
Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific (Southern) | 6050-6056 | 7 | 1941-1942 |
Colorado & Southern Railway (CB&Q) | 150-153 | 4 | 1947-1948 |
Conemaugh & Black Lick Railroad | 100-102 | 3 | 1949 |
Denver & Rio Grande Western | 7000 | 1 | 1941 |
Detroit Terminal Railroad | 104-112, 114-115 | 11 | 1947-1949 |
Detroit, Toledo & Ironton | 910-916 | 7 | 1948 |
Electro-Motive (Demo) | 889 (To Union Pacific, 1000) | 1 | 1939 |
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern | 403-407, 409-443 | 40 | 1940-1949 |
Erie Railroad | 401-427 | 27 | 1939-1949 |
Fort Worth & Denver City Railway (CB&Q) | 603, 605-606 | 3 | 1941-1946 |
Fort Worth Belt Railway | 2 | 1 | 1946 |
Georgia Railroad | 901-905 | 5 | 1948-1949 |
Grand Trunk Western | 7900-7914, 7966-7974 | 24 | 1941-1948 |
Great Northern | 145-162, 302-5331, 5334-5336 | 51 | 1939-1949 |
Illinois Central | 9150-9166 | 17 | 1939-1945 |
Indiana Harbor Belt | 8715-8739, 8774-8802, 8811-8834 | 78 | 1948-1949 |
Indiana Northern Railroad | 100 | 1 | 1948 |
Jacksonville Terminal | 30-36 | 7 | 1947-1949 |
Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway | 1001 | 1 | 1949 |
Kansas City Southern | 1100-1102, 1200-1211, 1222-1226 | 20 | 1939-1949 |
Lackawanna | 461-465 | 5 | 1945 |
Lake Champlain & Moriah Railroad | 19 | 1 | 1940 |
Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer Railway (GN) | 103-104 | 2 | 1949 |
Lake Terminal Railroad | 1001-1020 | 20 | 1947-1949 |
Lehigh Valley | 180-186 | 7 | 1949 |
Louisiana & Arkansas Railway (KCS) | 1125-1126, 1212-1221 | 12 | 1942-1948 |
Louisville & Nashville | 2240-2244 | 5 | 1949 |
Manistee & North Eastern Railroad | 2-3 | 2 | 1948 |
Maryland & Pennsylvania (Ma & Pa) | 80-81 | 2 | 1946 |
Milwaukee Road | 1647-1654 | 8 | 1939-1947 |
Minneapolis & St. Louis | D-139, D-740 | 2 | 1939-1940 |
Missouri Pacific | 9104-9106 | 3 | 1939-1941 |
Missouri-Illinois Railroad | 51 | 1 | 1949 |
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (Katy) | 1026-1030 | 5 | 1947 |
Monon Railroad | 1-3, 14-17 | 7 | 1942-1947 |
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis | 20-23, 25 | 5 | 1941-1949 |
Nickel Plate Road | 7-22 | 16 | 1942-1948 |
New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad (Southern) | 6850-6851 | 2 | 1941 |
New York, Ontario & Western | 115-131 | 17 | 1948 |
New York Central | 8700-8704, 8750-8773, 8803-8810 | 37 | 1946-1949 |
Northern Pacific | 101-106 | 6 | 1940-1941 |
Pennsylvania | 3909, 5921-5925, 9155-9176, 9247-9250 | 32 | 1941-1948 |
Peoria & Pekin Union Railway | 400-405 | 5 | 1948-1949 |
Pere Marquette | 51-64 | 14 | 1942-1945 |
Phelps Dodge Corporation | 1-8, 1-5 (2nd) | 9 | 1939-1949 |
Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England | 26-28, 219, 222-225 | 8 | 1941-1948 |
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie (NYC) | 8705-8714, 8740-8749 | 20 | 1947-1949 |
Reading | 90-92, 100-104 | 8 | 1940-1947 |
Republic Steel Corporation | D-815 | 1 | 1942 |
River Terminal Railway | 60 | 1 | 1949 |
Rock Island | 765-774 | 10 | 1948-1949 |
Santa Fe | 2353-2367 | 15 | 1939-1943 |
Seaboard Air Line | 1406-1412 | 7 | 1942 |
Soo Line | 300-301 | 2 | 1939 |
Southern Pacific | 1310-1319, 1403-1425 | 33 | 1941-1949 |
Southern Railway | 2200-2204, 2206-2207, 2233-2248, 2249-2284 | 57 | 1940-1947 |
Spokane, Portland & Seattle | 40-42 | 3 | 1948 |
St. Johns River Terminal Company (Southern) | 8560 | 1 | 1940 |
St. Louis San Francisco Railway (Frisco) | 250-265 | 16 | 1948-1949 |
St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt/SP) | 1050-1053 | 4 | 1949 |
Tennessee Coal & Iron Railroad | 900-902 | 3 | 1947-1948 |
Terminal Railroad Association Of St. Louis (TRRA) | 551-567 | 17 | 1939-1949 |
Texas & New Olreans (SP) | 72-88 | 17 | 1949 |
Texas & Pacific Railway (MP) | 1001-1019 | 19 | 1946-1949 |
Tucson, Cornelia & Gila Bend Railroad | 52 | 1 | 1947 |
U.S. Navy | 1-4, 44 | 5 | 1942-1943 |
Union Pacific | 1000-1095 | 96 | 1939-1948 |
Union Railroad | 536-555 | 20 | 1948-1949 |
Wabash Railroad | 350-352 | 3 | 1946-1949 |
West Virginia Northern Railroad | 50-51 | 2 | 1946-1947 |
Wheeling & Lake Erie | D-1 - D-4 | 4 | 1940-1941 |
Wheeling Steel Corporation | 1251 | 1 | 1948 |
Wisconsin Central (Soo) | 2108 | 1 | 1948 |
Today, the versatility and reliability of these small switchers speaks for itself as many NW2s remain in use in all types of applications. Those that are officially preserved include (listed are original railroad and number) AT&SF #2404, Frisco #261, CN #7944, C&O #5208, CB&Q #9227, GTW #7914, GN #5336, LST&T #101, Ma & Pa #81, Milwaukee Road #1649, Katy #1029, Indiana Northern #100, NYO&W #116, Reading #103, Espee #1905 and #1951, TH&B #51, UP #1011/#DS-1000/#DS-1001/#DS-1011, and W&LE #D3. For information about EMC's various switchers please refer to the chart below.