I had been struggling a while to find a locomotive that was suitable for my CNJ Bronx Terminal. It would have to be a small enough switcher to fit into this kind of yard. But it would’ve to be a strong puller that could work well the narrow curves and complicated turnouts without losing power. While my CNJ #1000 is the most prototypical loco, it is just too light to work reliably. The Arnold/Hornby SW-1 weights more and pulls well but it has a serious issue with its wheels that are non-NMRA compliant. An unfortunate flaw of an otherwise beautiful model which I have not been able to fix so far. I finally found my dream switcher – a Kato EMD NW2. The problem was just that there was no CNJ model, so I got an unused Burlington Northern (CB&Q) model on eBay for a good price and added a TCS decoder. Repainting it had to wait but I eventually got the time and patience to carefully repaint it. 

CNJ had only 2 NW2 switchers – road numbers 1060 and 1061 that were in their roster since 1942. There exist no pictures of an NW2 (nor a SW-1) on the Bronx Terminal, so having a NW2 to switch the freight cars in the Bronx is not prototypical (while Erie’s Harlem Station had an ALCo S-1 in the early 1960s, and Lehigh Valley’s Bronx Terminal had EMD SW-1s also in the 1960s). For the sake of the operability of my layout, I’m allowing myself using the NW2. 

EMD NW2 – CNJ #1061

This Kato model generally gets good reviews – apart from the strong 5-pole motor it has great low-speed characteristics. And it has an above average level of detail for a N scale locomotive of this size. The shell can be easily removed from the chassis and separates into three parts. Removing the windows from the cab is a bit more difficult but manageable. I removed the decals but left some of the paint so that I’d have a primer for the green CNJ paint. Then I used the air brush to paint the shell. I decided that I’d use a slightly lighter green than some of my other CNJ locomotives had. The dark green makes it hard to take pictures without adjusting the colors. For the decals I used Microscale decals 60-232 (1965-1976) – they are crisper than the one from the more prototypical decal sheet 60-231 (1950-1965). A TCS K3D3  decoder supports the excellent running characteristics of the locomotive. I’m pretty happy with the result. I finally have a good puller and a good looking CNJ switcher on my Bronx Terminal!