S NW2 Diesel LV #127/3.0

While Electro-Motive’s FT road diesel is celebrated as “the
diesel that did it” – vanquished the steam engine from American
railroads – the lowly switch engine had quietly started the diesel
revolution decades before. Compared with the 0-4-0, 0-6-0 or 0-8-0
steamers they replaced, the new end-cab diesel switchers were cleaner
and quieter, started up almost instantly, and offered 360-degree
visibility in the chaos of the rail yards and industries where they
worked – not hard for an engineer to get used to.

Introduced in 1939, the same year as the FT, the NW2 was the
latest evolution of Electro-Motive’s line of dependable, hard-working
yard goats. The “N” in NW2 stood for nine hundred horsepower, the power
output of the first Electro-Motive Corporation N-series switchers with
Winton motors. The “W” indicated a welded frame.

Power increased to 1000 hp with the debut of the 12-cylinder
NW2, the first N-series locomotive with EMC’s new 567 diesel motor –
the prime mover that would power nearly all of the most successful
first-generation diesels. Within a few years, EMC and Winton Engine,
which had been owned by GM since 1930, would become the Electro-Motive
Division of General Motors. By the end of NW2 production in 1949, over
1100 engines had been sold in the United States and Canada, and the
hardy N-series switchers were ubiquitous from coast to coast.

The NW2 joins our S Gauge lineup for the first time in 2019,
offering everything you need in a hard-working switcher: precision
flywheel-equipped motor, metal chassis and traction tires for great
pulling power; cruise control for steady speeds down to 3 scale miles
per hour; authentic EMD 567 prime mover sounds; and superb detailing
that includes separately applied door handles, air brake piping and
metal handrails.