Groovy Dude! The Missouri Pacific train in “Things are Tough All Over”

This movie was suggested by Christopher Bodkin.

How about this! The scene that we will be talking about is a location in The CineTrains Project Hometown of St. Louis, Missouri! The movie in question is the 4th overall Cheech and Chong movie, and was released in 1982. In the movie, Cheech and Chong  decide to take a cross country road trip, and paying for their gas by giving parts off the Limo they are driving, and one of the seats contains Arab money from a crime syndicate in Chicago. I won’t go further into detail, however I must note, that there is a Location error. When going through St. Louis, and go under a Missouri Pacific Train, they are not on the interstate, but approaching the Illinois Route 3 junction with I-55, I-70 and I-64 at the east end of the Poplar Street Bridge, where all three interstates cross the Mississippi River.

the Lashup is ALL GE as a MoPac Train crosses over IL Route 3

The Locomotives in the Lashup are MP 4518, 2965, 2970, and 4684. There was a a 5th locomotive that could not be identified, but was another Missouri Pacific 4600 series B23-7.

The lead locomotive is Missouri Pacific GE U23B #4518. She was built by General Electric at their Erie, PA shops with the Serial Number 40356. The locomotive was built as Missouri Pacific #2268 and was delivered to the “Route of the Eagles” in Late March, 1975. In 1980, the locomotive was renumbered to 4518 due to the pending merger with the Union Pacific, that occurred in 1982. After the merger, the the unit was assigned to a Union Pacific road number, #552. However, before the locomotive was renumbered, the locomotive was retired in January, 1988. On April 22nd, 1988, the locomotive was sold to Southwest Railroad Car Parts in Longview, Texas, where she was Cut up for scrap. She was only 13 years old when cut up, however, the U-series locomotives were not the best, and most were cut up before the age of 16.

Here’s a photo of the 4518 with here original number of MP 2268:                                 http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2003234

The 2nd Locomotive in the lineup is MP 2965. This locomotive was renumbered several times before she was traded in to GE. The locomotive is a GE U30C, and was built March 1968 as MP #960, with the serial #36700. What is interesting is that when she was renumbered by the MP in the early 1973, the locomotive became MP #0001, or MP #1. The lowest number a locomotive can get. There are no photos that I have been able to find of the locomotive with this number. In 1970, the locomotive we again renumbered to MP 2965. In 1983, after the MP merged with the Union Pacific, the locomotive was again renumbered to MP 3300.  She was never given a UP number. She retired from active service on May 24th, 1984, and was sent in as Trade on a order for C39-8’s. However, she was given a reprieve, when GE rebuilt the locomotive and sold her to the Enterprise Coal Company as ESCO 10K. She was rebuilt for Remote Controlled operations or loading coal trains in Kentucky. It is unknown to me weather or not she is still used for coal train loading.

Here is a photo of the 2965 rolling through Jacob, IL:                                                                 http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1854874

Here is a photo of the 2965 as she looks today:                                                                                                    http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=10364

The third locomotive is MP U30C #2970. She was built along side the 2965 as MP 965, and she carries GE Serial Number 36705. This is a give away that she was also constructed in March 1968. When the MP renumbered their U30C’s into single and double digit locomotives, the unit became MP #0006, or MP 6. During the 1978 renumberings, the unit became MP #3305, before finally being retired by the UP in 1984 and traded in. Like the 2965, the unit was also sold to Enterprise Coal Company for loading coal trains in Kentucky. It is unknown weather or not this unit still survives to this day.

Here is a photo of the MP 2970 in Maplewood, MO, a St. Louis suburb:                               http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1806923

Here is a a photo of the 2970 as MP #6:                                                                                                               http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=365346

The final locomotive is MP B23-7 #4684. The locomotive was built in May 1981 with the serial #43547.  She worked for the MoPac for a grand total of 16 months, before she became property of the Union Pacific Railroad. Being the youngest locomotive in the fleet. When the movie was filmed, the locomotive was still less then a year old. When the locomotive was painted into the colors of the Union Pacific, the locomotive became UP #184. She stayed as UP #184 until 2005, when the locomotive was officially retired from the roster. The story for the 4684 does not end there, as she got a new lease on life. In 2006, the locomotive was sent to Rail Power to be converted into the newest generation of locomotives, a GenSet, a model RP20BD. Everything on the locomotive from the frame up was removed, and scrapped, however, the Frame, trucks and fuel tank remain in-tact. The unit came back on the UP roster in January 2007, as UPY (for Union Pacific: Yard) #2618. She is good for another 20 years of service, with 3 diesel Truck engines, instead of one Railroad diesel engine.

Here’s a photo of MP 4684 as UP 184, being shipped in 2006 to be converted to a Genset: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=311780

Here is a photo of the MP 4684, as she looks today. She looks nothing like she did when first built: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=379294&showexif=1

I hope you enjoyed the latest entry for The CineTrains Project! As always, If you have any ideas, just click on the “Submitting Ideas” tab beneath the banner up top, or you can just recommend the idea on our Face Book page! You can like us on Facebook bl clicking the “Like” tab on the side of the screen! Happy Railfanning!

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