The Railway Children

It's uncanny how many adventures Phyllis, Peter, and Bobbie get into in such a short period of time. The beginning of the 20th century was certainly an exciting time, at least in rural England. And oh! to fall on hard times in the way that they did. However did they manage with just the one servant?

My kids liked this book, but I've discovered that my kids aren't terribly discerning readers at this point, so you should take their recommendation with a grain of salt. I liked the language, and I liked how the children interacted with adults and were so intent upon thinking of nice things to do even if they didn't do so well at them sometimes. The ending made me cry, but I've been crying at practically every book lately. It's like I just feel so grateful to the story for drawing me in that my emotions get the better of me.

Oh, and the strange scene at the end about the "scientific" explanation for why boys and men need to act and speak gently towards girls and women---my kids had a very fun time yelling out reasons this explanation isn't actually scientific. I was afraid I would have to prompt them to question what was written, but they took it and ran all on their own.

"Other animals don't avoid mother animals because the mothers are more delicate; they avoid them because they're fierce! A mother bear with cubs is much more dangerous than any other bear!" And so on.

I had fun listening to them get so worked up.

I've been seeing more things lately online and elsewhere about how we need to teach boys to never hit girls, and although I've been tempted to use that line on my own son to try and get him to stop injuring his sister, I worry that this rule implies that it's okay to hit boys, which would mean it's okay for my daughter to hit her brother, and that just doesn't work for me (or for my son). So I opted for an "it's not okay to hurt anyone or for them to hurt you" line, and then Edith Nesbit delivered the question about whether to treat boys and girls differently right to the book we were reading. How convenient!

Decent book and fun, although probably not in the way the author intended, but I prefer Nesbit's dragon stories.

I listened to a BBC dramtization (or similar) which is far better than the film. I doubt the film could hold the attention of modern kids.

I love reading children's books, particularly classics like this. The story is well-known: three children live an idyllic life with their cheerful father and loving mother in the early part of the 20th century. One day some men arrive unexpectedly and their father goes away with them. Their mother is very upset, and before long they move to a smaller house near a railway station.

The book mostly follows the lives of the children, who no longer go to school so are free to roam around the countryside getting to know people and learning a great deal about the railway. Which doesn't sound terribly exciting, but it's a great book - there are some very moving moments, and it's also very well-written with a bit of humour in the author's asides. Despite being written nearly 100 years ago the language doesn't seem too old-fashioned, and would probably be enjoyed by children from about the age of seven or eight upwards reading alone, or younger with a parent reading aloud.

Ah, nostalgia. I've been meaning to reread this for a while, and it's probably a pity I didn't do it in time for my children's literature exam. Still, there it is. I felt like the English Lit student was ticking boxes in my head as I went through: morality lessons, check, didactic narrator, check, discussion of the different roles for men and women, check, happy domestic life, check...

Still, it's also fun to disregard that and read about the three kids getting into trouble and helping their mother, etc, etc. I used to like Roberta/Bobbie the best, but she's really quite goody-goody most of the time.

It's funny reading it now and seeing the narrator talking down to me/the child reader. I can't think how I didn't find that annoying when I was younger, because I generally didn't like being told what to do by books, but I took both this and some of the lessons in Little Women (which in a way is very like this only for older girls) completely to heart. I don't think that was a terribly bad thing.

I love the ending. It's so unlikely, everything going right and all the people and friends they've made feeding into a happy ending, but still, everyone's a sucker for a happy ending sometimes.

I love this book. I love trains just as much as books. I enjoyed the charthers in the book. It about a family that has to make adjustment on the fly. I quite enjoyable. I love how this is a Classic. I did not know this book was out there to read while I was growing up. The Children name are Bobby, Phil and Paul.

If you want to know mare about it what happens I would suggest picking it up. Something happens that causes their father to go away.

What a classic! A great read for children and adults, and quite realistic railway action to boot.

The story of three children. One day men come and take their father away. The children don't know why. Their mother moves the family to a small house near the railway. There they have adventures and make friends. They fight sometimes and sometimes get in trouble.

A traditional adventure reminiscent of the writing in Swallows and Amazons, but with a less-privileged lifestyle. Although the children live in a very classical British tradition, their adventures are amusing. I do wonder if the appeal of a straitened family missing their father and living such an old-fashioned (early 1900's) existence would engage today's children. Fortunately, the narrative does not convey a sickly-sweet tone and younger children who are familiar with trains and railways nearby would enjoy the story. The book is laid out in episodes which nicely lend themselves to a nightly bedtime reading session.

Many of the chapters in this one were somewhat episodic which isn’t my favorite I like a little more flow than that but this would lend itself well to reading a chapter a day with a child. The father of this family has disappeared although the mother knows where he is, the children are kept in the dark about it for the majority of the book. With their dad gone, their financial situation becomes precarious and they’re forced to move out to the country near a railway station. This isn’t the most realistic depiction of a family plunged into this type of predicament, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing depending on what you’re in the mood for, if you’ve had your fill of dark depressng reality this delivers a more heartwarming take on the world where things have a way of working out and strangers are almost always good and kind, none more so than the endearing old gentleman. I imagine young readers will most enjoy the heroic exploits of these three siblings, while those rescues were undoubtedly page-turning, as an adult my favorite moments tended to be a bit quieter and focus on Bobbie’s inner thoughts, her worries over how they would pay the doctor, her distress over her father’s situation and the scenes where she would note her mother’s sadness, there was an authenticity to the little girl’s emotions in those instances that elevated the story to a more engaging place for me.

Sweet story about two sisters and a brother and their adventures when they move with their mother to a small house in the English countryside after their father rather mysteriously goes away. They make friends with the local railway employees and others; save a train, rescue a boy after he breaks his leg in a railroad tunnel, learn how a gift may be seen as charity and shameful to the receiver, but then teach that receiver a gift may be a sign of respect and friendship, and more. There is a brief non-egalitarian explanation about the difference between boys and girls, but the characters and the author don't conform to it. It turns out that the nice man the children wave to as his train goes by every day is connected to the boy in the tunnel and important enough to act as a deus ex machina.

I was a huge fan of E. Nesbit as a child, but I'm genuinely not sure if I ever read this one or not. I think I might have, as certain things seemed very faintly familiar, but if I did, I must have been pretty young, and had forgotten it almost completely. It's a bit different from the books of hers I do remember reading, as there are no fantasy elements in it at all. It's the story of three children who are living a very happy and well-off life until their father "has to go away for a while," most of their money also goes away, and they move to a new house near a railway station. The kids miss their dad, but they absolutely love the railroad, and they make friends with the man at the ticket counter and have all kinds of adventures.It does feel like there's almost a bit of parental wish-fulfillment here on Ms. Nesbsit's part. These kids are so very, very kind-hearted, and good to their mother, and willing to help anyone with anything, including doing chores without even being asked. But she somehow manages to write all of that without making it feel too saccharine-sweet, giving them occasional flashes of naughtiness and displaying what feels like a genuinely good sense of how kids' minds work. She also writes with a lovely low-key wittiness that seems to me equally effective for child or adult readers. And the ending did actually give me some nice warm feelings. So I'm glad I finally filled in this missed or forgotten gap in my childhood reading.

Another in a long line of children's classics that I missed during my own childhood - I was too busy reading Star Wars and Star Trek books in the period of my own tentative entry into literature - so I'm glad that I have the opportunity now, with my own children grown old enough to read, to see what I might have missed."The Railway Children" is a curious one, a slightly episodic book in that most of the adventures practically stand by themselves, yet are sufficiently linked to make a proper book of it - the same is true, I believe, of "Anne of Green Gables." The story concerns a mother and her three children who are forced to move to the country after the arrest of the father. The children get up to all sorts of adventures, most of which revolve around rescuing the locals from one mishap or another. The final chapters are most interesting, considering that it's over a century since the book was written, as the eldest child suddenly has a conversation with her writer mother (clearly Nesbit herself) about how wonderful it would be if life could resolve itself so neatly as literature - before the book resolving itself in exactly that way.The book is certainly dated in some respects, but the worst aspect has to be the class consciousness on display - and the problematic nature of this aspect is not just me being modern and criticising a work outside of the context of when it was written. True, there were clear class distinctions back then - as there are now - and these were accepted as being the way of the world, but still: an upper-middle-class family fall on hard times, have to co-exist with the relatively uneducated working class, and who benefits most? The working class, obviously, for without the intervention of these too-good-to-be-true children half of them would have perished. Oh, and it just so turns out that the working class aren't all bad after all - wouldn't you know it!

Memorable.

This is a classic children's novel written at the turn of the twentieth century. The story involves a family in which the father was mysteriously taken away leaving the mother and three children to downsize and live a life of more moderate means in a rural area. Near the home is a train track and train station and the kids have several exciting adventures connected in part to that fact, I can see why the novel is loved and believe that even children today would enjoy the book.

Oh, lovely. Not at all the story I thought it was - somehow I'd gotten the impression they were living on their own, maybe in an old railway car. This is a very sweet (but not saccharine) story. The kids quarrel and mess up and make up and do great things on multiple levels - from making a birthday party for a friend to saving lives, several times. There are coincidences that drive the story a bit, but they work. There's also one magnificent description of a small landslide - walking trees. It's a lot of fun, and probably worth a reread in a while, too.

This classic children's novel from 1905 is a delight to read, and gently humourous in many places as our heroes, Peter, Phyllis (Phil for short) and Roberta (Bobbie for short) get up to all kinds of adventures in and around the railway, preventing train crashes, putting out fires, rescuing people from dark and dank tunnels and, slightly incongruously, meeting a Russian dissident. There are some nice illustrations in this edition also. I've never seen any of the TV and film adaptations of this, but I intend to seek them out.

In the great tradition of British children’s literature, Nesbit’s name is always mentioned with reverence. This is my first book of her’s but I can’t wait to recommend her to my nieces and nephews. The story, published in 1906, is about an English family whose father is accused of espionage and imprisoned. His role is rarely mentioned (think of the father in Little Women) and is more notable in his absence than presence. The children walk to the railway station almost every day and make friends with the regular travelers. They also help an ailing Russian man who is looking for his family. Their mother is strong and supportive, shielding her kids from knowing about their struggles.BOTTOM LINE: The sweet story is a perfect one to read aloud with young kids. The adventures are very episodic and would work well being spread out over the course of a week or two. It reminded me of Swallows and Amazons, another good British children’s book.

A book I've been meaning to read for a very long time. These days the language of the book is a little dated but I can see how, in 1906 when it was first published, it would have become very popular with the targeted audience. A lovely tale of three children learning to deal with what life throws at them, at times overly sentimental but that could just be me, reading a children's book in 2016, that is over 100 years old.

This book was all about the life of three children: Phyllis, Peter and Roberta (though she likes to be called Bobbie instead). The children's father mysteriously goes away, and none of them know why except Mother. They move house into the countryside and begin to live very poor. There the children make good friends with the people of the railway, and love the railway itself.

Their father goes for a very long time. When the children wave to an old friend of theirs, which they call 'The Old Gentleman', they are doing it for the purpose of him to send their love to Father.

With many rescues and great journeys, the children have great fun and a brilliant time. But they are also sad - they miss Father so much, and yet they don't think Mother is happy. "How can we cheer her up?" they ask each other. "If she's not happy, she never will be until Father comes back, will she?" and the simple questions are: WILL Father come back? And if not, WILL the children or Mother be happy again?

Wonderful book! Terrific! I like the phrases Nesbit uses - "don't let's quarrel, now!" - "Oh, rot!" - "Yes, Mother. Of course we will, ducky-dear." - it's all very funny, since we usually don't speak like that anymore, but it also gives a touch of what Nesbit DID speak like when she was still around.

I very much liked this story of three children who must move with their mother from the comfort of their well-to-do London home to a small cottage in the country and "play at being poor" while their father is mysteriously away. A bit saccharine, maybe, but a well-written and comfy read nonetheless, with nicely-drawn and sometimes hilarious characters.

What happened to my review? I remember mostly being disappointed, as much of Nesbit I loved. Iirc, this had too much slang, and was too implausible, for me.

Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis (Phil) lead a happy suburban life, with plenty of toys, treats to eat, nice clothes and servants to tend to the chores. But one evening two men come to the house and take Father away with them when they leave. Mother makes the best of things; selling many of their finer possessions, packing up the necessities and moving them to a cottage in the country, where she earns a meager living writing stories. Three Chimneys is comfortable if less spacious than their original home, and the children find much to do and make new friends among the villagers. They are particularly drawn to the railway station and to watching the trains that run past.

This is a delightful classic of children’s literature. The children have many adventures, but behave like children throughout. They squabble and let their imaginations run away with them, but try very hard to be good when they notice how unhappy their Mother is. They sometimes misunderstand realities, but that’s to be expected given the times and how hard the adults try to shield them from the realities of some situations.

I love how inventive they are in their play (I especially liked the scene where they were trying to enact billboard advertisements), and how they display loyalty, courage and compassion. They are children, however, and are bound to misbehave, but they are appropriately contrite and accept their reprimands with honest promises to try harder in the future.

I’d read Nesbit’s Five Children and It series when I was in middle school, but never read any of her other works. Thanks to the member who mentioned this work recently, or I would never have thought to revisit her writings. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A big part of me goes, "Oh boy! A bunch of rich kids meddle in everyone's affairs and of course fix everything with the power of their pluck and sheer Britishness! Great!" but I can't deny that these kids are pretty damn likable and that Nesbit has a real way with writing from a child's perspective.

Originally published serially in The London Magazine, E. Nesbit's childhood classic The Railway Children was first released as a book in 1906, and follows the story of three siblings - Bobbie (Roberta), Peter and Phyllis - who find their lives mysteriously transformed when their father is taken away one night, and they must move to the country with their mother. Here, at Three Chimneys house, the children befriend the locals, observe the railway - which becomes a central facet of their lives - and attempt to resolve the issue of their father's disappearance. When the three learn that he has been accused of espionage, they are determined to prove his innocence, a project in which they are aided by the Old Gentleman, a regular railroad passenger whom they have befriended...A book I have read many times, mostly recently for a course in children's literature, The Railway Children is an engaging story of three young people and their many adventures. It reflects the late-Victorian fascination with trains and the railroad - which are here the means of freeing an innocent man, and reuniting a family - as well as its creator's social views and interests. It's tempting to see a little of Nesbit in the children's mother, who bravely picks up her pen to earn a living for the family, when her husband is taken away, or to see the emphasis put on helping others in the right way - the importance of giving aid that is not perceived as charity, for instance, to avoid wounding the pride and self-respect of others - as a reflection of the author's views as a Fabian. However interesting any such references may be, this is also a book that has appeal as a story, one in which a happy family is torn apart, before eventually being reunited. The children's adventures in between make for entertaining reading!

A beautifully written book, though definitely from another time. Three siblings and their mother leave their London home for the countryside because some men come to take their father away. What follows are a series of mini-adventures, mostly concerning the Railway and surrounding areas where the children express themselves through kindness and good deeds.

The reason I enjoyed this book so much was, not just for the wonderful old-fashioned language you find in books such as these (calling someone a brick always amuses me), but because it holds a very important message and that is you are not worth how much money you have. The children move from, not an unseemly amount of wealth, but definitely enough to afford a privileged lifestyle to barely being able to afford warming their house, resorting in the children "borrowing" coal in lieu of a game.
The whole point of life is to better yourself and it's quite difficult to do that when you're born in to money. But the children better themselves despite this, and in so many different ways it's hard to look back on this time and envy them for being able to live in it.

1993, BBC Audiobooks, Full Cast DramatizationBook Description: from BookDepository.comThis is a BBC Radio full-cast dramatization of E. Nesbit's enchanting and unforgettable classic. Roberta, Peter and Phyllis lead an ordinary suburban life with Mother and Father and trips to the zoo and the pantomime. But when Father is mysteriously taken away one night, everything changes. The children must move to the country, to a little white cottage near the railway line, where eventually they find that there are plenty of adventures to be had and friends to be made – including Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. But the mystery remains – what has happened to Father, and will he come back? The story of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis and their life in the country has never been out of print since it was first published in 1906. Charming, sentimental and unforgettable, the novel retains all its enchantment and enduring appeal in this BBC Radio full-cast dramatization.My Review: Thoroughly enjoyed Nesbit’s The Railway Children and cannot say enough good about the full cast dramatization: it is superbly done. The simple, charming, ordinary suburban lives of Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis made me appreciate having grown up before our world became its present frantic, high-tech society of progress. Favourite characters are Perks and the Station Master. Most memorable scene is Perks’ birthday, on which the children bring a host of gifts from themselves and from neighbours. Perks is adamant he will not take what he sees as charity, but when the children read to him the messages from his neighbours, he comes to understand that his neighbours are not patronizing him but rather appreciating him as a valued friend and member of his community.

This is one of Nesbit's most popular stories, but not one of my favorites --I prefer her fantasies. This is a relatively realistic book about a family of a mother and 3 children who go to live in a little cottage near a railway station after the father of the family is imprisoned for an obscure crime. The children make friends with the railway staff and with an old gentleman ( railway commuter) who turns out to have enough influence to get their father's case investigated, and he is found innocent. One interesting point is that the mother shares many characteristics with Helen, Philip's sister in The Magic City (my favorite Nesbit) --they are both delightful people with an understanding of children and a gift for storytelling (the mother in this story supports herself by writing children's stories after her husband is imprisoned.) The cover of this version is based on a film version by EMI.

A remarkably good book. It is obviously didactic and the writer speaks directly to the reader, making it seem even more so. At the same time, it is full of humour, much of it derived from the children's interactions, imagination, and conversation. It is utterly improbable; people are never that helpful to chance-met children. The children also are remarkably resourceful in situations where suffering is both visible and real or where disaster is immanent. There are really excellent descriptions of what it is like to ride on a train and what it is like to watch one go by or arrive at the station and generally vivid descriptions throughout.It was reminiscent of "No Boats on Bannermere", including the part where the family arrives at an apparently neglected and inhospitable destination in the late evening only to find, the following day, how much has been done for them.

Apparently this is a beloved classic. I would describe it as treacly.Sentimental. Much more about the childrens' emotions than about trains.Endless scenes of the children being responsible and noble and brave.Very much of its time and place, with children saying things like "Bother! I believe I've broken my leg."Morally didactic to the point of being patronising.Might be good for children who are very interested in emotions.

Something about this book always gets to me. This time it was the effort of the eldest to be good when she couldn't be always, as she struggles to help her mother through her father's mysterious disappearance. I wish I knew if any young people read Nesbit any more, or if this would be a good read aloud for fifth graders.