2020…The TRAINTASTIC Twenties!

Happy New Year – Happy New Decade to all of our Trainiac friends 🙂

The Traingineers ended the decade accomplishing absolutely remarkable custom layout installations all over the country and a first…even in Canada! We are so blessed by each of our Top Traintastic Customers with Roger and I continuing to be in awe of the gifted group of employees we employ and passionately refer to as our Talented Traingineer Team!

Special shout-out of gratitude to each Traingineer Team Member: Paul Munger, Mike Reagan, Mike Ellis, Garrett Broyles, Eugene Kollman, George Watson, Dennis Magee, Judy Ellis, Jeff Matney, Nick Ellis, Ethan Tait, Abraham Alvarado, and Ulises Mendez. YIKES! I would be remiss not mentioning three honorary Traingineers; Joe Holtzinger, Stephanie Reagan, and Alex Mallaie, who’ve pitched in to assist and we’re very appreciative to have each “on Traingineer Duty Call”!

We expanded our reach and increased services we offer by adding the uber talented Mike Reagan to our team in 2017. Mike became our East Coast Director based out of Concord, NC. and from his East Coast Studio headed up fabrication/design/installation of three custom residential layouts for customers in Santa Fe, NM – Warren, NJ – Providence, RI and we’ve sent him all over the country for layout assessments, installations, service calls, and events; New York, Nevada, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Iowa, Florida, North Carolina and even Canada!

Going down Memory Lane a bit, Roger Farkash, founded Theatrical Warehouse Inc dba TW TrainWorx in 1982 – making this decade #4 for our small family owned business being in operation – truly a miracle in and of itself! Both of us will reach our 70’s in this decade and you’d think our founder and Creative Director would be talking the *R* word, right? Hmmm, not seeing that happen any time soon when his design calendar is just about booked for the first quarter of 2020 and his HUGE passion for what he does certainly is not subsiding!

Happy to say we’re starting out 2020 with a younger generation of Traingineers (almost half of our Traingineers are in their 20’s – early 40’s) and they are being mentored/taught by the Absolute Best of the Best in the toy train layout industry!

All this to say, we’re building a TW TrainWorx Legacy, and we’d love to have YOU become part of it! The Traintastic Traingineer Team is Still believing the Train Layout possibilities are endless : )

What a decade that was… in pictures, Enjoy!

Happy New Year Trainiac friends – wishing YOU and YOURS an extraordinarily blessed and prosperous 2020.

Happy Tracks,

TrainDame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
(214) 634-2965
http://www.trainworxlayouts.com
http://www.layoutassessment.com
http://www.twtrainworxstore.com

It’s Dismantle Day!

In the post before you saw this layout with trains running and final touches being applied. Take a look now in the middle of “Dismantle Day” 🙂

Here are some “Fun Facts” about this layout:

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie
TW TrainWorx
Dallas, TX | Concord, NC
(214) 634-2965
http://www.trainworxlayouts.com
http://www.twtrainworxstore.com

It’s about to be crated… COME SEE!

Join me in taking a look at this TW TrainWorx Custom O Gauge Commercial Layout that is getting the final finishing touches applied before it’s dismantle time and shipped to Charlotte, NC next week!

Here are some fun facts…

  • The layout covers an area 24′ x 13′
  • Will be set up in the center of the Lobby area of the Barings Building, located in Uptown Charlotte, 300 South Tryon
  • Eight loops of track
  • Ten tunnels
  • 5 unique bridges
  • 40+ Custom made buildings
  • Custom Train Station
  • 200+ figures

Enjoy behind the scenes footage with TRAINS RUNNING!

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie
TW TrainWorx
Dallas, TX | Concord, NC
(214) 634-2965
Est. 1982

Shop till you drop: http://www.twtrainworxstore.com

 

It’s… Traingineers MOST Wonderful Time of YEAR!

Personally, I’ve never; been to the North Pole, visited Santa’s Workshop, petted any of Santa’s Reindeer, ridden over rooftops in Santa’s Sleigh, been elbow to elbow with all the elves BUT I bet it’s pretty darn close to what I get to experience up close and personal – right here this time of year, inside the McGowan Street Studio! With all the Holiday Activity going on for the TW TrainWorx Traingineers it’s truly crazy to see SO much Terrifically Traintastic layouts being; wired up, touched up, started up, finished up, designed, and/or installed all over this great country of ours… Makes this TrainDame’s head spin 🙂

Our Traingineer-ette, Judy just created a list of TW TrainWorx Holiday Train Display’s that YOU… yes YOU, can see and experience throughout the Holiday Season. Proud to present Six of our commercial custom layouts that YOU must be sure to add to YOUR Holiday Event Plans:

Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas ya’ll – from deep in the heart of Texas 🙂

Happy Tracks,

TrainDame aka Dorcie
TW TrainWorx
(214) 634-2965
http://www.trainworxlayouts.com
http://www.twtrainworxstore.com
http://www.twtrainworx.com

P.S. Also, if you’d like a print out of the list above, please feel free to download this PDF: TW TrainWorx Holiday Train Displays

 

 

Introducing… Talking Trains with TrainDame, Ep. 1

Cheers Trainiac Friends!

Are we having some FUN NOW!!! I’m diving in and all on board to present to YOU the Very First… Talking Trains with TrainDame recording titled: “Reagan – Wiring Nightmare”.

Last week, TW TrainWorx East Coast Director, Mike Reagan aka Reagan flew to Houston from NC to perform some “switch repair work” for one of our Traintastic Customers who unfortunately had his layout done by a “hobbyist”
(not knocking hobbyist, just stating a fact) and switches were not working.

First thing Monday morning Reagan sent us these pictures showing underneath table work environment:

 

 

And that is my lead in to the First Ever Episode of Talking Trains with TrainDame and YOU can listen in to my conversation with Reagan, NOW by clicking on this link: Worst Nightmare 

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie
TW TrainWorx
(214) 634-2965
Dallas, TX | Concord, NC
www.blog.traindame.com
www.layoutassessment.com

P.S. Don’t forget…

P.P.S Listen to Talking Trains with TrainDame: Episode 1

 

Forty Years… 1979 – 2019

That’s right Trainiac Friends, August 30th, 2019 marked four decades that TrainDame and Chief Traingineer, Roger Farkash, have been married!!

Wowzers right? What do you do to celebrate such a momentous occasion?? Easy Peezy, decide to go off the radar for a long weekend! First off, we headed back to the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico where we were blessed to say our wedding vows, then headed on up to the High Timber Family Ranch just South East of Chama, NM with our ENTIRE family and top off the weekend with a ride on the Cumbres/Toltec Steam Train!! Such an amazing time we had and we especially cherished being able to share the adventure with our four grandchildren; Deacon age five (almost), Ford age four, Wade age three, and Lilly age two. We all had too much CRAZY fun I tell ya!!! Ha… and don’t you know, there was a TRAIN SHOW in Santa Fe to boot and we ran into one of our Traintastic customers – Henry Day!! 

If you’d told me some forty years ago that Roger would start a company in 1982 (same year our son was born) the very next year give birth to our daughter, two years later I would go to work with Roger, then in 2008 we’d create a new division of TW Design… TW TrainWorx – same year create an alter persona TrainDame, have commercial Train Layouts in; Dallas, Houston, New York City, Pittsburgh, and coming soon to Charlotte and Kansas City PLUS residential Train Layouts spread coast to coast throughout the USA and CANADA – well I would’ve told you, “WHAT, ARE YOU CRAZY – NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!” … Well, WAY 🙂 

Sharing the photo fun of our 40th Wedding Anniversary Adventure… All A Board!

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
(214) 634-2965
http://www.twtrainworx.com
http://www.twtrainworxstore.com
http://www.trainworxlayouts.com

 

 

Hot Hot Hot … Smokin Summer going on!

Cheers to my Trainiac friends! Is it just me or are you too finding it hard to believe we’re almost to the half way mark of August and already it’s BACK TO SCHOOL! Jeesh – I’m a believer…  the older you get, the faster (as in WARP SPEED) time goes by!

The Traingineer’s Summer of 2019 has been the absolute Traintastical best time with over sixteen different projects requiring their extraordinary skills to bring to life Traintastically Incredible; designs, layouts, and models! I made a list and broke it down as follows:

  • Out of the 16 Projects we have in our Dallas/Concord Studios: 9 are for returning Top Traintastic Customers and 7 are prime time New Traintastic Customers! Out of the 7 new customers, four are for Commercial Layouts and the other three will be Rocking Residential Layouts.

Our East Coast Director, Mike Reagan, is heading up one of our largest residential layouts being fabricated now in Concord. Roger was up over the past weekend putting his Creative Director touches on and carving up a storm and this week, Traingineers Ethan is helping out to get ready for Traingineer Eugene who will be leaving Saturday from Dallas to assist with the dismantle and making ready the trucks for delivery in Rhode Island the week of August 19th!

Truly CRAZY FUN I TELL YOU!!! I’m so proud of all the Traingineers – feel truly blessed to be able to share their talents and adventures with YOU. Nough said – pictures, pictures, you want pictures 🙂 Enjoy!

First up, action from Concord, NC:

COMMERCIAL LAYOUTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
RESIDENTIAL LAYOUTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
(214) 634-2965
http://www.twtrainworxstore.com
http://www.trainworxlayouts.com
Dallas, TX | Concord, NC

What???? Haven’t posted since March???

Cheers Trainiac Friends!

Boy oh boy, wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it myself…and all I can say is that our Magnificent Month of March rolled right into an Amazing April…. Meteoric May… and now almost halfway through a Jamming, Jiving, Jumping June!!! What a spectacular year we are experiencing in 2019!

Ok, let me bring you up to speed on what the TW TrainWorx Traingineers have been up to the last couple of months :).

Well, to start off – we are completely BOOKED for 2019 Layout Design/Fabrication/Installation and NOW booking for first quarter 2020!!! Folks, that is a FIRST for TW TrainWorx…Absolutely Extraordinary!

We are working at full capacity in both our Dallas – McGowan Street Studio and Concord, NC Studio with both commercial and residential layouts.

East Coast Director, Mike Reagan, lead designer, on an over 400 sq. ft. O Gauge custom residential layout installing in Rhode Island end of August is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION – – – >  Let’s let some pictures do the talking:

Turning my focus back to our Dallas, McGowan Street Studio, Traingineers (since March) have completed Design/Fabrication on: 3 – O Gauge residential layouts, 1 Standard Gauge residential layout, 1 Combo O Gauge/Standard Gauge Residential Layout, 1 Commercial Wooden RR layout, Denver Union Station Model, Custom Scranton Electric Building Model, Radio City Music Hall Model, One Time Square Model and traveled to Omaha for the annual Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder’s Meeting, where we set up the Corporate BNSF Layout! Check it out…

Two Traintastically exciting NEW commercial layouts we’re working on now, YOU will be able to see up close and personal IF you are in Charlotte, NC this Holiday Season and/or come first quarter 2020 at the new Train Themed Children’s Museum opening in Kansas City Union Station’s – Science City!!! The centerpiece of this children’s museum layout is going to be our O Scale model of the existing, Kansas City Union Station. Let me share some in process photos with you of both of these custom commercial layouts:

Oh… and another layout for a brand new customer that we started this week for his commercial real estate office lobby during the holidays! We’ve designed the table that will include his Christmas tree – right smack dab in the middle of it!

Ok… I better get this posted before it turns into October!!!! Yee Haw – having some fun now 🙂

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
(214) 634-2965
dorcie@traindame.com
Dallas, TX | Concord, NC USA

http://www.trainworxlayouts.com
http://www.twtrainworxstore.com
http://www.twtrainworx.com

P.S. Just posted TW TrainWorx Office Rule #2 🙂 🙂

 

Magnificent Month of March… in process!!

Wowzers! What a Month of March it IS!!

Started the month off installing the Carter RR here in Plano, Texas, next up a custom TWX Layout relocation for a Traintastic customer doing some downsizing in Chattanooga, Tennessee, finishing up this week with a massive installation of a 40′ layout setting up in the basement of a Pennsylvania residence and next week, Traingineers will be off to Chicago for a dismantle of a TWX custom layout done in 2009 = WOWZERS 🙂

Round of applause to our amazing Traingineers for their focus and incredible accomplishments – Chief Traingineer, Roger Farkash and I are Extremely proud of our Traingineer Crew; Mike Reagan, George Watson, Mike Ellis, Garrett Broyles, Eugene Kollman, Nick Ellis, Eric Rodriguez, Ethan Tait, and offsite helpers; Joe and Alex 🙂 Special Shout Out to keeping us all going (my brother from another mother) Paul Munger, and Judy Ellis!

Reagan started this week off in Tennessee and jetted to Pennsylvania Wednesday, where he joined the PA Installation crew to assist finalizing installation and when he gets back to North Carolina, he’ll get back to fabricating another residential layout he designed for a Traintastic Customer in Rhode Island!! Back here in our McGowan St. Studio, we’re finishing up some Denver Union Station models, fabricating a custom table base and top for the Lanzer family, fabricating some modular layout pieces for our dear friend and customer here in Houston, and starting on a custom wooden RR for a Pediatrician’s Office in Maryland 🙂 Didn’t even mention all the design proposals ready to close, and have closed for the new wave of custom layouts getting ready for Fabrication to Commence next month in April – Whew! We’re having SOME FUN NOW 🙂 

Love sharing pictures… enjoy!

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie
TW TrainWorx
Dallas,TX|Concord,NC|USA

(214) 634-2965
http://www.trainworxlayouts.com
http://www.twtrainworx.com
http://www.twtrainworxstore.com

 

Missouri… Rhode Island… North Carolina…

And why do you think TrainDame is spot-lighting those three states in particular???

Crazy excited to share with all my Trainiac friends that TW TrainWorx is now – – – wait for it – – – Booked for 2019! What????? I know, crazy cool right??? Make that down right Traintastic.

It is such a blessing to be serving this toy train niche with our customers, both residential and commercial, that participate in some highly creative collaboration with us in order to realize their train layout experience. Well I am super excited to share that two of three projects are for commercial customers and that means YOU aka the PUBLIC can experience this Holiday Season!!

First up, Missouri… our Creative Director, Roger Farkash, is the lead designer on a layout for a new, TRAIN themed children’s museum that will be opening in Kansas City Union Station’s Science City Museum!!!

Moving on to Rhode Island, our East Coast Director, Mike Reagan, is the lead designer for a residential client and this layout will be built in Reagan’s Concord studio for delivery to Rhode Island in August!!

Thirdly… Traingineers will be fabricating a commercial layout that will be featured in the lobby of a Charlotte skyscraper and installed right after Thanksgiving!!

Had to share our three newest customers and also share that this is the first time we’ll be installing a TW TrainWorx Layout in; Missouri, Rhode island, and now North Carolina! Zippity Do Da Day… TrainDame is pumped like diesel 🙂

Back here at home in Big D the Traingineers are installing the Carter Family RR in North Texas. They started yesterday and will be finishing up mid-week. I thought you’d enjoy seeing some of the installation pictures, Enjoy!

Happy Tracks!

TrainDame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
(214)634-2965

http://www.trainworxlayouts.com