The Railway Children

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For the charity see Railway Children (charity). For the alternative rock band see The Railway Children (band)

**The Railway Children**
Author	Edith Nesbit
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Children's
Publisher	T. Fisher Unwin
Released	1906
Media Type	Print (Hardcover)
ISBN	NA

The Railway Children is a children's book by Edith Nesbit.

1 Plot summary
2 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
3 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story concerns a family who move from London to rural Yorkshire after the father is falsely accused of selling state secrets to the Russians and imprisoned for five years. The three children, two girls and a boy, find amusement in watching the trains on the nearby railway line and waving to the passengers. They become friendly with Perks, the station porter, and with an elderly gentleman who regularly takes the train. He is eventually able to help prove their father's innocence, and the family is reunited.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The story has been adapted for the screen six times to date, as four television series, a feature film and a made-for-television film.

[edit] Television series

The story was adapted as a television series four times by the BBC. The first of these, in 1951, was an 8 episode series of 30 minutes each, a second adaptation was produced which re-used some of the film from the original series but also contained new material with slight cast changes. This serial had 4 episodes of 60 minutes each.

The BBC again revisited the story with an 8-episode series in 1957 and in 1968. The 1968 adaptation placed 96th in the BFI's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes poll of 2000. Of all the adaptations, only the 1968 version is known to be extant (it is currently available on DVD), the rest may be lost.

[edit] 1970 Version

After the successful BBC dramatisation of the 1960s, the film rights were bought by Lionel Jeffries. The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and its station at Oakworth were used as location.

The film was Jeffries' first feature and is unusual in that at the end the cast assemble to perform a curtain call. Also a voice can be heard shouting "Thank you Mr. Forbes" as an acknowledgement to Bryan Forbes who put up a security for the film to be completed. The film starred Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins (who ad libbed most of his performance).

The film went on to be a great success with critics and audiences alike. In 1999, the BFI named the film as 66th in its list of the Top 100 British films. In 2004 the magazine Total Film named it the 46th greatest British film of all time.

[edit] 2000 Version

In October of 1999 the film was remade for ITV at the Bluebell Railway. This time, it had Jenny Agutter playing the role of the mother. Others who acted in the movie are Jemima Rooper.