TIPS & TECHNIQUES

USA NW-2

    The USA NW-2 has been out for a number of years.  It is one of the

first diesels produced in large scale (1/29) by Charles Ro.  This unit

was produced by EMD in the 1940's, and was sold to almost every railroad

in the country.  The locos produced 1000 HP and were available in

"cow & calf" sets if desired. ( The cow was the unit with the cab, and

the calf was an non-cab unit mu'd to the cow.)

     These diesels were used in major switch yards, branch line service,

and when joined as a cow and calf set, performed transfer work for many

railroads.  Many are still in service today, especially on branch line

operation.  The designation  NW stands for "new wiring" according to the

EMD handbook.

    This model is a fine looking, smooth running unit with great

detail.  USA has  painted this diesel in a variety of road names, and

the graphics are crisp.  As usual, all pilot details have to be added

by the modeler. Once again I would suggest using a photo of the

prototype, and a good quality CA-glue to keep the details in place. 

This is especially true of the air hoses, where you have right-hand and

left-hand hoses.

    USA ships the loco with  hook and loop couplers, and includes their

knuckle coupler.  Kadee makes a coupler conversion kit for this loco

(#787)   I have converted two diesels so they will mate with other

brands of rolling stock. Unfortunately, USA's knuckle is really not

compatible with any other brands. The rear of the Kadee coupler box

has to be shimmed so that the coupler reaches the correct height on

the coupler gauge.  I am not happy with this, and have let Kadee know.

I feel that the coupler should be higher on the mount so that this

shimming is not required.

    The control switches for the lights, smoke, and motor are under

the intake grill on the front of the unit.  It is quite simple to open

this grill and set the switches the way you want them.

    The switcher comes with lighted cab interior and an engineer. 

While I realize that they are all members of the union, I will definitely

repaint him so that he doesn't look like all the other engineers used

by USA and Aristo.  I will also add a 2nd figure to the cab, since the

contract did not allow these units to run with only one crew member.

    This diesel is a trouble free loco that does not require any

"tweaking" to make it perform well.  It does have those troublesome

pickup shoes which snag on the old Aristo wide-radius turnouts. LGB

makes a wider shoe that is a direct replacement which will eliminate

the problem.  In a rare case of cooperation, USA is planning on

producing a wider pickup shoe,  and Aristo has redesigned the frog on

its wide radius turnouts so that the shoes do not snag.

    This unit will look right at home on any layout, and will negotiate

short radius turnouts and curves easily.  USA offers a sound unit

manufactured by PH Hobbies for this loco which is easy to install. 

Other sound systems are available from Sierra and Phoenix.