Nothing is more strongly associated with the CNJ Bronx Terminal than its first Diesel-Electric (or Oil-Electric) boxcab CNJ #1000. This small 60 ton switcher locomotive built in 1925 by a consortium of ALCo, General Electric and Ingersoll Rand also known as AGEIR boxcab was the first commercially available diesel-electric locomotive in North America. It was acquired by the Central Railroad of New Jersey in the same year and was in use for almost 30 years. Numerous photos document its ubiquitous presence in the Bronx Terminal (the photo below shows the locomotive in CNJ’s Statue of Liberty livery introduced in 1945).

CNJ #1000 in N Scale?

It was pretty clear to me from the very beginning of this project that my layout would need a CNJ #1000 – in N scale! It’s not so simple, though, as none of the manufacturers of model trains has the boxcab in its catalog. Fortunately, there’s a N scale sized 3D printed CNJ 1000 boxcab available on ShapeWays. I immediately ordered the kit when I found out, and I also ordered the Bandai N scale power chassis 3 for which the boxcab under frame was designed. I was very disappointed when I tested the power chassis. I realized that a model based on that chassis might look good, but given its weak motor it would never be able to operate on that layout. A layout with lots of switches and tight radii. I decided to put it away and deal with it when I would have more time for rolling stock.

A few weeks later I came across the Bachmann 44 ton switcher that looked small enough to serve as a motorized platform for my CNJ #1000 body. A review of the locomotive was extremely positive so I ordered one for a good price. It even had a built-in DCC decoder! It didn’t take me long to figure out that, indeed, with some fine-tuning, I could use the chassis for the boxcab.

Building CNJ #1000

One of those rainy weekends I decided to build my CNJ #1000:

I completely removed the T44 body from the chassis, including the black cap that sits on the PC board in the middle.
I milled off enough (less than 1 millimeter) of the die cast under frame on both ends of the T44 so that the boxcab under frame would fit perfectly. Using halves of a half-inch long and 1/8″ thick wooden dowel, I glued two fuel tanks to the sides of the under frame.
With a fine-grained nail file, I sanded the sides of the bodies. I had to take care of not damaging the fine structures such as window and door frames.
Then I airbrushed the shell and the other pieces with Vallejo acrylic surface primer. Once the paint was dry, I added rows of rivets on the body as per the prototype. The next step was to airbrush the shell, the radiators and the under frame in CNJ’s Seafoam Green (or what I believed would be like it). Although it’s supposed to be a relatively dark green, it turned out too dark. I’ll fix that later with weathering.
Using Microscale decals, I added the Liberty herald on both sides as well as the road number. Road numbers can also be found on both ends of the loco. Inside the shell I inserted a single piece of clear PVC that I bent into shape to fit exactly the body. Now my boxcab has proper window glass.
To protect decals and paint I finished the coating with Microscale Micro Satin using the airbrush.

Looking Good

With all the painting done, it was time to assemble all the pieces and put #1000 on the tracks for a test run. I must admit that I was very proud of having kit-bashed my first locomotive. Sure, it there is still room for improvements, like adding grab-irons. But it looks great, runs well, and negotiates the tight curves without difficulties. A great and very prototypical addition to my CNJ Bronx Terminal layout!