the abundance of horsepower and trac- tive effort the Centennials provided, a pair of them did not quite supply the speed needed to maintain the desired schedule for priority trains. As a result, multi-unit Centennial consists became an increasingly familiar sight. Enter the “sandwich,” which usually was a pair of Centennials serving as the “bread” and an SD40-2 locomotive squeezed in between as the “meat.” The result was equal to five SD40-2s, and provided the right balance of power to help maintain the high-speed sched- ules. An SD40-2 is by no means small in size but when placed between a pair of


Centennials miniscule. it appeared almost


Like any good diner, the UP’s “sand- wich” menu combinations also ap- peared in other forms; sometimes a sin- gle


Centennial trailed by three


SD40-2s, a pair of Centennials trailed by a single SD40-2, or three SD40-2s trailed by a Centennial (sorry, drink and chips not included). These combi-


nations were often called “Fast Forty Sandwiches” by the railfans. This 16,500 h.p. combo wasn’t always aligned in a typical sandwich form. On some occasions a pair of Centennials or a single Centennial would be joined by a mix of other locomotive model types, and on other occasions Centennials


RIGHT: The Centennial image was often used for advertising purposes such as this large bill- board facing the heavily traveled Interstate 5, and next to UP's East Los Angeles Yard on Jan- uary 22, 1977. BELOW: 6925 West with an- other Centennial Sandwich in the lead is holding the South Track just east of the Cajon Summit crossovers. Santa Fe 5713 East passes upgrade on December 6, 1977.


46 AUGUST 2013 • RAILFAN.COM


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