Trains at Children’s Medical Center Dallas set for final ride on January 24
DALLAS - Children's Health publicly addressed its controversial plan to remove its train display that has been at the hospital the past 30 years.
The popular train display will start to be taken down in late January to make way for a new multi-purpose area at Children’s Medical Center Dallas that will include amenities like an outdoor space, all-abilities play areas, and a full-service Starbucks.
The move has had negative feedback from thousands of former and current patients and their families who say the trains have a special place in their memories.
Representatives for the hospital said that after more than a year of planning for the new space, and trying to re-work the designs, there is just not enough room in the hospital to keep the trains.
But in just a few days, a petition to save those trains has grown from a few thousand, to more than 28,000 signatures, and growing.
“I remember the chemotherapy, the spinal taps,” former patient Darius Bridgewater said.
For three years of his childhood, Bridgewater spent most of his time at Children's Medical Center battling leukemia.
At just six years old, the trainscape at the hospital was his escape.
“It was my breath, I guess, if you want to call it,” Bridgewater added. “It was me being able to see the outside world in an inside place.”
But after three decades, the trains will have their final ride later this month.
“This is a huge mistake and they should really consider everybody's emotions,” Bridgewater said.
The trains occupy nearly 5,500 square feet in the hospital, space that will now make way for a new two-story multi-purpose area offering different amenities for patients and families. That includes an outdoor courtyard, all-abilities playground, and one feature that has drawn the most scrutiny -- a full-service Starbucks.
“We so understand the nostalgia and the sadness,” said Keri Kaiser, senior VP of marketing & communications for Children’s Health. “This was a really hard decision. We have analyzed all of the areas possible and we are just really out of space. It took us a really long time to come to this.
Hospital officials said the final designs were the result of lots of feedback from patients’ families, and though they tried to find other options to keep the trains, there was no feasible plan.
“As much as we would love to, we are just out of space and this is where we can offer almost 5,500 square feet of inside space, as well as additional outside space to meet the needs of patients and families,” Kaiser said.
Representatives for Children’s Health said they are working on ideas for how the rich history behind the trains can still be honored in the new space.
They are also doing outreach to different groups to see if they can find a new home for the train system, or a way for it to be re-purposed.
Though thousands have voiced their opinions online and through phone calls to keep the trains, for now, they'll have their final turn around these tracks in just a few more weeks.
“It's a place kids can kind of just see that it's okay, no matter what situation. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel,” Bridgewater said.
The hospital has planned a final ride ceremony for January 24.
They'll start construction on the new space shortly after that, and it will be completed in different phases, opening up throughout this year and early in 2021.
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