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The Story of the Railway Children

The Railway Children is a children's book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in The London Magazine during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906. It has been adapted for the screen several times, of which the 1970 film version is the best known. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography credits Oswald Barron, who had a deep affection for Nesbit, with having provided the plot.

Plot summary

The story concerns a family who move from London to "The Three Chimneys", a house near the railway in Yorkshire, after the father, who works at the Foreign Office, is imprisoned after being falsely accused of spying. The children befriend an Old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train near their home; he is eventually able to help prove their father's innocence, and the family is reunited. The family take care of a Russian exile, Mr Szczepansky, who came to England looking for his family (later located) and Jim, the grandson of the Old Gentleman, who suffers a broken leg in a tunnel.

The theme of an innocent man being falsely imprisoned for espionage and finally vindicated might have been influenced by the Dreyfus Affair, which was a prominent worldwide news item a few years before the book was written. The Russian exile, persecuted by the Tsars for writing "a beautiful book about poor people and how to help them" and subsequently helped by the children, was most likely an amalgam of the real-life dissidents Sergius Stepniak and Peter Kropotkin who were both friends of the author.[1]

Adaptations

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

BBC radio dramatisation

It was adapted for radio by Marcy Kahan and produced by John Taylor. It stars Paul Copley, Timothy Bateson and Victoria Carling and was first heard in 1991. The play is available on CD.

BBC television series

The story has been 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 4 episodes of 60 minutes each.

The BBC again revisited the story with an 8-episode series in 1957 and a 7-episode series in 1968. The 1968 adaptation was placed 96th in the BFI's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes poll of 2000. It starred Jenny Agutter as Roberta and Gillian Bailey as Phyllis. 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.

Film

Main article: The Railway Children (1970 film)

After the successful BBC dramatisation of 1968, 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. The music was composed, arranged and conducted by Johnny Douglas.

2000 version

Main article: The Railway Children (TV film)

In October 1999, ITV made a new adaptation, as a made-for-television film. This time Jenny Agutter played the role of the mother. Others in the movie include Jemima Rooper, Jack Blumenau and JJ Feild. The railway filmed was the Bluebell Railway using some of the Railway's steam engines and rolling stock and NBR C Class 0-6-0 "Maude", from the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway.

Cast1951 (BBC)1957 (BBC)1968 (BBC)1970 (film)2000 (Carlton Television)

MotherJean AndersonJean AndersonAnn CastleDinah SheridanJenny Agutter

FatherJohn StuartJohn RichmondFrederick TrevesIain CuthbertsonMichael Kitchen

RobertaMarion ChapmanAnneke WillsJenny AgutterJenny AgutterJemima Rooper

PhyllisCarole LorimerSandra MichaelsGillian BaileySally ThomsettClare Thomas

PeterMichael CroudsonCavan KendallNeil McDermottGary WarrenJack Blumenau

PerksMichael HardingRichard WarnerGordon GostelowBernard CribbinsGregor Fisher

Old GentlemanDA Clarke-SmithNorman ShelleyJoseph O'ConorWilliam MervynRichard Attenborough

Dr ForrestJohn Le MesurierJohn StuartJohn RinghamPeter BromilowDavid Bamber

Stage versions

In 2005 the stage musical was first presented at Sevenoaks Playhouse in Kent, UK, with a cast including Are You Being Served star Nicholas Smith as the Old Gentleman, Paul Henry from Crossroads as Perks and West End star Susannah Fellows as Mother. Music is by Richard John and book and lyrics by Julian Woolford. The score was recorded by TER/JAY records and the musical is published by Samuel French Ltd.

A new stage adaptation written by Mike Kenny and directed by Damian Cruden was staged in 2008 and 2009 at the National Railway Museum, York. The adaptation starred Sarah Quintrell, Colin Tarrant and Marshall Lancaster (2008 only), and featured a Stirling Single steam locomotive (GNR 4–2–2 No.1) which, while not actually in steam, entered the stage on the tracks originally leading into the York Goods Station, in which the 'Station Hall' section of the museum is now situated. The stage was constructed inside the large tent outside the Goods Station, which is usually reserved for some of the working locomotives of the museum. The project was set up by York Theatre Royal, and involved its younger members (Youth theatre) in the production.[2][3] This adaptation then transferred for two seasons to two disused platforms at Waterloo International railway station.[4] The amateur rights now allow local amateur companies across the UK to produce the play. A Toronto production in 2011 was staged at Roundhouse Park, home of John Street Roundhouse National Historic Site[5] by Mirvish Productions. A temporary 1,000 seat theatre was built at the base of the CN Tower, around the railway tracks—with the audience seated on either side—and it featured a 66-ton vintage steam locomotive.

The production at Waterloo won an Olivier Award for best Entertainment in 2011.[6]

The stage adaptation, produced by the National Railway Museum and York Theatre Royal, reopened in December 2014 in a new theatre behind London's Kings Cross station[7] and is due to close on 8 January 2017.[8]

Allegations of plagiarism

In 2011, Nesbit was accused of lifting the plot of the book from The House by the Railway by Ada J. Graves, a book first published in 1896 and serialised in a popular magazine in 1904, a year before The Railway Children first appeared.[9] In both works the children's adventures bear remarkable similarities. At the climax Nesbit's characters use red petticoats to stop the train whilst Graves has them using a red jacket.[10]

In popular culture

A 200-metre footpath[11] in Lee, Greater London is named Railway Children Walk to commemorate Nesbit's novel of the same name. The short walkway connects Lee High Road to Grove Park, a nearby public park.[12] A similar path is also located in Oxenhope.[13]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Railway Children.

References

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The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter (who had earlier featured in the successful BBC's 1968 dramatisation of the novel), Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles. The film was released to cinemas in the United Kingdom on 21 December 1970.

The film rights were bought by Lionel Jeffries. It was his directorial debut, and he was also responsible for writing the screenplay for the film. The Railway Children turned out to be a critical success, both at the time of its release and in later years.

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Filming locations

 

Lionel Jeffries used the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, and its station at Oakworth, as the backdrop for the film, referring to it as the "Great Northern and Southern Railway".[3] At the time of filming there were still very few heritage railways in Britain, and only the KWVR could provide a tunnel, which is important in a number of scenes. The tunnel is a lot shorter in reality than it appears in the film, for which a temporary extension to the tunnel was made using canvas covers.[4]

A number of working locomotives were used in the making of the film, including MSC67, 5775 (L89), 52044 (Preserved as L&Y 957) and 4744 (69523/1744), all of which survive. They were painted in fictional liveries for the filming; 5775 in brown, reminiscent of the Stroudley livery of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, 957 in apple green, similar to liveries used by the North Eastern Railway, Great Northern Railway and London and North Eastern Railway, and 4744 and MSC67 in plain black, as used by most railway companies in Britain at one time or another. 67 is now at the Middleton Railway, Leeds, and 4744 is now with the Great Central Railway at Loughborough. 5775 and 957 are still on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. As of 2014, 4744 is the only locomotive that remains operational as 957, 5775 and 67 are on static display at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, National Railway Museum Shildon and the Middleton Railway respectively.

A wide variety of vintage rolling stock was used in the film, including examples from the Metropolitan and London and North Eastern railways. Although different carriages appeared in different liveries, the dominant one is white and maroon, which is reminiscent of the livery of the Caledonian Railway. The most important carriage in the film, the Old Gentleman's Saloon, was a North Eastern Railway Director's Saloon, that has been used since in the stage production of the book. It and all the other carriages seen in the film are still at the KWVR, but tend to be used at special events only, due to their age.

A number of different locations were employed for various scenes. The house called "Three Chimneys" is in Oxenhope, just north of the Oxenhope railway station.[5] The Bronte Parsonage in Haworth was used as the location for Doctor Forrest's surgery.[5] The scenes of the children sitting on a bridge were filmed at Wycoller near Colne. Mytholmes Tunnel near Haworth, and the railway line running through it, were used extensively in the film, including being the location for the paper chase scene, as well as the one in which the children wave the girls' petticoats in the air to warn the train about a landslide. The landslide sequence itself was filmed in a cutting on the Oakworth side of Mytholmes Tunnel and the fields of long grass where the children waved to the trains are situated on the Haworth side of the tunnel. A leaflet, "The Railway Children Walks", is available from KWVR railway stations or the Haworth Tourist Information Centre.[6]

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Uptheally

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