Spotlight on north texas
All-Aboard
for Smiles
Running steadily for 25 years, seven days
a week, the train network at Children’s
Health of Texas is the largest train-scape
in the world in a hospital lobby. Felder
Fitzgerald Jr. refers to himself as the
“Train Doctor” or “the Conductor” and is
one of four builders that designed the train
including Malcolm Furlow, Chris Comport
and Connie Martinez. Beginning the project
in 1989, they worked seven days a week
and into the early hours of the mornings to
finish within six months. The train display
depicts a current Dallas area; the mountainous terrain of Pikes Peak in Colorado;
Mt. Rushmore monuments; the buttes of
Utah; Big Boulder rocks and the Garden
of the Gods in Colorado and Arizona. Over
the years, they have built new scenes and
towns and are always changing and adding
different ‘characters’ of interest, usually
selecting characters based on popular story
books and children’s movies.
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www.ntc-dfw.org
Winter/Spring 2015