EMD NW2

EMD NW2 The NW2 is a 1,000 horsepower diesel-electric switcher built by the Electro-Motive Corporation and later General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1939 and 1949. The design served numerous railroads and industrial operators across North America and influenced switcher development during and after World War II, seeing use alongside equipment from Alco, Baldwin Locomotive Works, Fairbanks-Morse, and Hudson Bay Railway-era operations.

Design and Development

The design emerged from work at Electro-Motive Corporation under figures linked to Alfred P. Sloan-era General Motors reorganizations and developments in dieselization that reshaped New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad motive power. Engineers adapted the EMD 12-567 prime mover already used on EMD FT road locomotives to a switcher platform influenced by earlier models such as the EMC 740 and the EMD NW1, incorporating lessons from Great Northern Railway and Chicago and North Western Transportation Company yard operations. Design priorities reflected needs of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and Southern Pacific Transportation Company for reliable low-speed tractive effort, using electrical systems similar to those on EMD E-units and maintenance practices developed with input from General Electric vendors.

Production and Builders

Production was carried out at Electro-Motive's La Grange facility after EMD's consolidation under General Motors and paralleled production runs by competitors such as American Locomotive Company and Baldwin. Builders delivered units to major customers including Union Pacific Railroad, Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Nickel Plate Road, and Seaboard Air Line Railroad, as well as industrial plants affiliated with U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel, and Anaconda Copper. Wartime production constraints and Office of Defense Transportation priorities affected deliveries to railroads like Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, and some manufacturing overlapped with subcontracted work for Electro-Motive Division suppliers.

Specifications and Variants

Standard specifications include a B-B wheel arrangement on AAR trucks, a 1,000 hp EMD 12-567 inline two-stroke diesel, and multiple-unit capability compatible with EMD F-series control systems used by Pennsylvania Railroad and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Variants included high-short-hood and low-short-hood options ordered by Missouri Pacific Railroad and Nickel Plate Road, custom radiators for Pullman Company servicing facilities, and adaptations for Alberta and Saskatchewan cold-weather service similar to modifications on Canadian National switchers. Some units were later upgraded with dynamic brakes, improved traction motors akin to those in EMD GP7 rebuilds, or repowered with EMD 8-567 derivatives in industrial service for companies like DuPont and Swift & Company.

Service History and Operations

NW2s entered yard and industrial service in terminals from Chicago to Los Angeles and on branch lines that paralleled heavier road power used by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Southern Railway. They performed transfer runs, hump yard duties, and plant switching for customers including Union Pacific, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Erie Railroad, often paired with EMD SW1 and later EMD SW7 units in complex operations. During World War II, NW2 production and deployment were coordinated with agencies such as the War Production Board to support military logistics through ports like San Francisco Bay and New York Harbor, and some units served on Military Railway Service spurs and industrial sidings at Ordensburg-era facilities. Postwar, many units remained in service into the 1960s and 1970s on Class I railroads and in industrial fleets owned by U.S. Steel, Cargill, and International Harvester.

Preservation and Survivors

A substantial number of NW2s survive in museum and tourist service, with preserved examples in institutions such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, Illinois Railway Museum, Colorado Railroad Museum, Center for Railroad Photography and Art-linked collections, and regional tourist operations on lines like the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Green Bay and Western. Preserved units appear in heritage paint schemes of Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, New York Central Railroad, and Southern Pacific at events hosted by organizations including the Railroaders Memorial Museum and Railroading Heritage of Midwest America. Several preserved NW2s have been repowered or cosmetically restored through efforts by volunteer groups associated with National Railway Historical Society chapters and private owners linked to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park and other preservation sites.

Category:Diesel-electric locomotives