Concept of the Pohoy, karankawa and western railroad

The Pohoy, Karankawa and Western Railroad is a freelanced railroad set on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Pohoy and Karankawa were small native American tribes which resided in the Tampa Bay and Brownsville, TX areas, respectively.  My research indicates there are no longer any active, organized members of these tribes.  If they are out there, I hope that my homage to them will not be seen as a slight. My earlier freelanced railroad, which I created in the 1990’s, was the Mohican Central.  Another nativeAmerican themed railroad.  Set in New England, it was named for my first, now ex-wife.  Therefore it could not continue in existence! Karankawa is supposed to translate as “dog lovers” so it was a particularly appealing name to me, given our family love affair with our now departed dog Scout. I am attracted to modeling the coast of the Gulf of Mexico for several reasons.  I have lived in the area and enjoy its flora and fauna, its beauty and cuisine.  Additionally, it is an infrequently modeled part of the country, which offers some interesting varieties of terrain, particularly bridges and water.  There is also a variety of industry in the area served by rail, including oil and shipping.  My plan is to build a moderately large HO scale railroad, in a dedicated building acquired in September 2024. See my Youtube video about the space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv4zk8ppZ2k. The flat topography of the gulf coast will be relatively easy to execute on benchwork, which I expect will be built to a single main line standard, with 40 inch standard mainline curves.

I particularly enjoy painting and decalling previosuly undecorated models.  Therefore, creating my own livery for the railroad was a pleasure, along with my own decal sheets.  Feelancing gives me the freedom to include some imagined industries, companies and structures, increasing my fun in the hobby. For era, I plan to set the PK & W in the not too distant future.  This again allows a little more creativity in my modeling, is a relatively unusual approach to selecting an era, and permits me to weather the heck out of the newest locomotives rolling off the hobby industry assembly lines! These pages will have updates on the layout as it is planned and built, as well as rolling stock, locomotive and structure projects as they progress. After all, a man has to have a hobby!