EMD NW2

Technical Specifics

The EMD NW2 emerged from Electro-Motive Division's growing expertise in diesel switcher design during the late 1930s, representing a significant refinement of earlier models in the NW series. Production began in February 1939 at EMD's primary facility in La Grange, Illinois, and over the course of nearly eleven years the company turned out 1,145 units before the final examples were delivered in December 1949. Of that total, 1,121 went to domestic American railroads while 24 were delivered to Canadian operators, reflecting the broad appeal of the design across North American rail networks during a period when diesel switching power was rapidly displacing older steam switchers in yards and terminals. During the later stages of production, EMD shifted NW2 manufacturing to its Plant Number 3 in Cleveland, Ohio, beginning in late 1948. This period also saw the model's engine specification evolve from the original 12-cylinder 567 powerplant to the updated 567A variant. Alongside the standard single-unit NW2, EMD produced several cow-and-calf paired configurations under the TR, TR2, and TR3 designations. The TR sets, which consisted of three cow-calf pairs, were assembled prior to World War II, while the 72 TR2 cow-calf pairs and two TR3 cow-calf-calf sets were built after the war's conclusion. These multi-unit arrangements allowed railroads to concentrate tractive effort for demanding switching assignments without requiring a full crew in each unit. The NW2 occupies a notable place in diesel locomotive history as one of the most numerically successful switcher designs of its era. Its decade-long production run and widespread distribution across scores of American railroads cemented EMD's dominance in the switching locomotive market and helped familiarize railroad operations departments with the reliability and economy of diesel traction. A number of NW2s survived well beyond their intended working lives, with several examples entering preservation at museums and tourist railroads across the United States and Canada, including units associated with the Milwaukee Road, Southern Pacific, and Canadian National.

Prototype Reference

Real-world information about this equipment type

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