The Railway Children

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

**Title** **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 the English countryside after the father is falsely accused of selling state secrets to the Russians and imprisoned for five years. The three children, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis, 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 The Old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9.45 down 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 in 8 episodes of 30 minutes each. A second adaptation was then produced, which re-used some of the film from the original series but also contained new material with slight cast changes. This had four episodes of 60 minutes each.

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

[edit] Film

Main article:The Railway Children

After the successful BBC dramatisation of the 1960s, the film rights were bought by the actor Lionel Jeffries, who wrote and directed the film, released in 1970. Jenny Agutter and Dinah Sheridan starred in the film.

[edit] 2000 Version

In October of 1999 ITV made a new adaptation. This time Jenny Agutter played the role of the mother. Others in the movie include Jemima Rooper and JJ Feild.