The Railway Children facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
The Railway Children

First edition
Author	Edith Nesbit
Illustrator	C. E. Brock
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	novel
Genre	Children's
Publisher	Wells, Gardner, Darton
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	279

Title page of first edition

The Railway Children is a famous children's book written by Edith Nesbit. It first appeared in a magazine called The London Magazine in 1905. The book was then published in 1906.

This story has been made into movies and TV shows many times. The 1970 film is probably the most well-known. Edith Nesbit lived near Grove Park, and her walks there might have inspired the book's setting. Grove Park Station even has a special painting to remember this connection.

The story is about a family who moves from London to a house called 'The Three Chimneys'. This house is very close to a railway line. They move because their father, who worked for the government, is wrongly put in prison. He was accused of being a spy, but he was innocent.

The three children are Roberta (called "Bobbie"), Peter, and Phyllis. They become friends with an Old Gentleman who often rides the 9:15 train. He eventually helps to prove their father is innocent, and the family is reunited. Before their father comes home, the family helps a man from Russia, Mr. Szczepansky. He came to England looking for his family. They also help Jim, the Old Gentleman's grandson, who breaks his leg in a tunnel.

The idea of an innocent man being wrongly accused might have come from a real event. This was the Dreyfus Affair, a big news story a few years before the book was written. The Russian man in the story, who was helped by the children, was likely based on real people Edith Nesbit knew. These people were Sergius Stepniak and Peter Kropotkin.

The book also mentions the Russo-Japanese War, which was happening at the time. This helps us know the story takes place in the spring, summer, and early autumn of 1905.

Main Characters

Here are some of the important people you'll meet in The Railway Children:

• Father: He is a very smart and hard-working man. He loves his family very much. He is wrongly put in prison but is later found to be innocent.
• Mother: She is a talented writer who creates poems and stories for children. She cares deeply for her family and always helps others.
• Roberta: Everyone calls her "Bobbie." She is the oldest and most grown-up of the three children. She is a lot like her mother.
• Peter: He is the middle child and the only boy. Peter is smart and good at finding solutions. He often takes charge when there's a problem.
• Phyllis: She is the youngest of the children and sometimes acts a bit less mature than her siblings.
• The Old Gentleman: He works for the railway. He becomes friends with Bobbie, Peter, and Phyllis. He helps their mother when she is sick. He also plays a big part in getting their father freed and finding Mr. Szczepansky's family. He is Jim's grandfather.
• Albert Perks: He is the friendly station porter. He enjoys being with the children. He knows a lot about trains and other things.
• Jim (schoolboy): He is the Old Gentleman's grandson. The children rescue him after he breaks his leg in a railway tunnel during a game.

Book Adaptations

The Railway Children has been made into movies and TV shows many times. So far, there have been six screen versions. These include four TV series, one feature film, and one TV movie.

Radio Shows

The story was turned into a five-part radio show in 1940. It was part of a program called Children's Hour. Later, it was adapted again for radio in 1991. This version is available on CD.

BBC Television Series

The BBC has made the story into a TV series four times.

• The first TV series was in 1951. It had eight episodes.
• A second version was made using some parts of the first series.
• The BBC made the story again in 1957 and then in 1968.
• The 1968 TV show is very popular. It was even voted one of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. Jenny Agutter played Roberta in this version. This 1968 series is the only one still available to watch today.

Movies

After the successful 1968 TV show, actor Lionel Jeffries bought the rights to make a movie. He wrote and directed the film, which came out in 1970. Jenny Agutter and Dinah Sheridan starred in it.

2000 Version

In 1999, ITV made a new TV movie version of the story. In this movie, Jenny Agutter played the role of the mother! The film used real steam engines and railway cars from the Bluebell Railway.

Stage Shows

A musical version of The Railway Children was first performed in 2005. It had music by Richard John and words by Julian Woolford.

A new stage show was created in 2008 and 2009 at the National Railway Museum in York. This show was special because it featured a real steam locomotive! The train, a Stirling Single, actually came onto the stage. This play was so popular that it moved to two old platforms at Waterloo International railway station in London. A real British steam locomotive was even shipped from England to Toronto, Canada, for a show there in 2011!

The stage show at Waterloo won an Olivier Award in 2011. This is a very important award for theatre in the UK. The show later reopened in London behind King's Cross in 2014 and closed in 2017.

Plagiarism Claims

In 2011, some people suggested that Edith Nesbit might have copied parts of her story. They said it was similar to a book called The House by the Railway by Ada J. Graves. That book was published in 1896, before The Railway Children.

See also

In Spanish: Los chicos del ferrocarril para niños