The Railway Children

Edith Nesbit (1858-1924)—who wrote under the penname E. Nesbit—originally published The Railway Children as a series in The London Magazine in 1905. The first printed edition of the book appeared the following year in 1906. She was a prolific author, writing or collaborating on over 60 titles throughout her long career. Her personal life was unhappy. She married Hubert Bland in 1877, and the marriage came under considerable strain through Bland’s repeated acts of infidelity and resultant illegitimate children. Nesbit had three children of her own with Bland: two sons and a daughter. The Railway Children is dedicated to her eldest son, “behind whose knowledge of railways [Nesbit’s] ignorance confidently shelters.” She died in 1924 of suspected lung cancer.

The Railway Children is perhaps Nesbit’s best-known work and has been adapted several times for radio, television, and film. There have also been recent stage adaptations of the novel in 2014 and 2020.

This study guide uses the Kobo e-book from the Standard Ebooks Project, 2nd edition, edited by David Grigg and transcribed by Les Bowles and David Widger, published in 2018.

Plot Summary

Roberta (also known as Bobbie), Peter, and Phyllis live comfortable, privileged lives with their loving mother and father in London. One day, everything changes: Father suddenly leaves the family home under mysterious circumstances and the children move to a modest house in the countryside to live a far more isolated and impoverished existence. The children do not understand why their father is absent, and their mother is reluctant to give them any details about his exact whereabouts.

The children cope with their adverse circumstances by forming a bond with their new home and community. They develop a deep love for the nearby railway, especially the train they nickname the Green Dragon. Each day, they appear on the platform to wave at this train as it passes, and a passenger they nickname the old gentleman waves back to them. The children forge friendships with the railway employees, including the Station Master and the Porter, Mr. Perks. During their time in the countryside, they have several adventures, including preventing a train accident, rescuing a baby from a burning barge on the canal, and aiding an injured boy in a railway tunnel. Although poor, the children seek to perform acts of kindness for others whenever they can, while Mother maintains her fierce independence by supporting the family through constantly writing for various publications.

The appearance of a Russian Exile at the station midway through the novel foreshadows Father’s whereabouts. The Russian Exile has suffered arbitrary imprisonment—and so, too, has Father, who is serving a five-year sentence for supposed treason. Although all three of the children gradually become aware that there is something strangely amiss in their father’s absence, it is only Roberta—the eldest and most sensitive of the children—who finally discovers the truth in an old newspaper article. She responds to this discovery by writing a letter to the old gentleman asking for his assistance, as the well-connected and kind man is often a benefactor to the family in times of need. The old gentleman’s intervention secures Father’s release and leads to the eventual reunion of the family at the novel’s end.