I wanted to start a discussion on an interesting subject that's close-ish to home for me. All I know for certain is that pictures exist of Frisco GP7's and KCS GP30's being paired together in the Joplin area in the late 70s. What hurts my research, is 3 of the 4 pictures I have seen have disappeared off the internet. 2 of the missing pictures are different shots of the same train, a pair of Frisco GP7s and a KCS GP30 in Joplin where the J&G Branch crosses Junge Blvd. Here's the one I can still find: https://frisco.org/mainline/2016/06/09/gp7-620-3/ What I *think* this is, is the KCS pitching in for a joint local between Joplin and Baxter Springs following the abandonment of the KCS branch to Baxter Springs. I don't think I've seen any official documentation on this arrangement to confirm that this is the case. Where things get interesting is the 4th picture that I can't find anymore. I have seen a picture of this pair of power navigating the chat piles in the Picher, OK area. I've never seen anything to indicate KCS had any trackage rights into this area. My best guess is the Frisco used the pooled-pair for the day on a Frisco only operation to balance out HP hours between the two roads. If anyone has additional and or better information, please share in this thread. I decided to post this in the general Freight Operations section since it might impact more than one specific branch/sub division
Wish I knew more about the operations in this area, but I think your hypothesis is plausible and, in the absence of any firm evidence, would make for a justifiably realistic model operations.
