Figure 1.--At the beginning of the film before their father is arrested we see the children with their friends playing with a new toy train set they have been given. The toy train becomes a symbolic prelude to their later involvement with real trains. Click on the image to see another scene at the party. You see some of his guests running around the room in a variety of outfits from the Victorian era. The picture shows Peter’s new locomotive emitting smoke after a solder joint cracks. This accounts for the hazy appearance to the picture.

"The Railway Children" is the film version of the classic Edith Nesbit's famous children's 1906 children's book. Adventure classic about three children who are relocated to Yorkshire from London. They live by a railway line in a small village. They seek to clear their imprisoned father from a false charge of espionage. I believe that the girls wear smocks and the boy knickers. We have, however very little specific information anout this version.

The Book

Some believe that Edith Nesbit was the first modern English children's author for her more realistic stories. Her best-loved book is The Railway Children. Peter, Phyllis and Roberta are brother and sisters and the three main characters of The Railway Children. The book is set in southern and northern England. Initially they were "ordinary suburban childern" as the novel puts it, their father accused of a crime he did not commit is jailed at the beginning of the story. The loss of income from this causes the family to have to dismiss the maid and move into the country side in the north. They have to scrimp and make do when their father is accused of a crime and locked up. They move to a home near the railroad tracks and ger to know the railroad workers. This if course leads to many splendid adventures. The Railway Children is the best loved of E. Nesbit's many children's books.

TV-ology

This is the charming Masterpiece Theatre rendition of Edith Nesbit's famous children's book. The movie was released in 2000.

Setting

The book is set in contemporary times at the time it was written--Edwardian Britain.

Cast

The mother (Jenny Agutter) and the father (Michael Kitchen) have three children, a boy and two girls: Peter (Jack Blumenau), Phyllis (Clare Thomas) and Bobbie (Jemima Rooper). Sir Richard Attenborough plays the owner of the railroad.

Figure 2.-- Canal barges had been the backbone of the early Industrial Revolution and were gradually replaced by the railroads. They still, however, were of some importance in Edwardian Britain.

Plot

The plot concerns the well-to-do Waterbury family of London who are thrown into strained circumstances when the father is arrested. They have to move to Yorkshire where they live in a modest house near the railroad tracks. They make friends with the railroad workers. The plot concerns the well-to-do Waterbury family of London. When the father mysteriously has to disappear, the mother and her children are forced to move to a country town and occupy a house near the railroad tracks. They have suddnely become poor. We learn later that the father's mysterious absence is due to his being in prison, but the children are not told his fate. They discover the truth only at the end. During his absence the children become fascinated with the local rasilway. They begin to wave at the railwaymen and passengers. Gradually they make the life of the railroad the emotional substance of their lives, identifying with its rituals, its employees, its timetables, etc. Their involvement with the elegant steam engines and carriages of the Great Northern and Southern Railway becomes a means of keeping their absent father present to them. They become involved with an unnamed Old Gentleman (played beautifully by Richard Attenborough) who rides the trains and who eventually is instumental in getting their father released from prison and reunited with them.

Costuming

The costuming is realistic, suitably Edwardian. The boys wear either knee pants or knickers, both with long black stockings. In the play scene, the boys wear either knee pants or knickers with long black stockings. Throughout the film, Peter wears knickers but rather tight knickers that do not blouse--very similar to knee breeches. The girls wear pinnafores. Peter sometimes wears a brown velvet jacket and starched collar and tie. Sometimes we see him with only a sweater or a shirt and vest with no jacket, especially after he has moved to the countryside. Outdoors he wears a cap with a bill, an Edwardian version of a schoolboy cap.

(The) Railway Children - (UK, 1972)

There was a 1972 film version of "The Railway Children". I believe that the girls wear smocks and the boy knickers. We have, however very little specific information anout this version.

Created: March 23, 2004
Last updated: 8:35 PM 1/24/2005