The Railway Children at 50 Kate Garner
Fifty years after The Railway Children film, Kate Garner makes a pilgrimage to the Yorkshire steam railway where it was made
It was the red flannel petticoat that did it! As I watched Bobbie avert imminent disaster by ripping up her petticoat, creating a makeshift flag and bringing the steam train to a halt, I was left wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
What a heroine … though she then rather spoilt it by fainting on the railway.
I was totally entranced by the gloriously sunny and gentle world of The Railway Children. This classic was released 50 years ago, in December 1970 – and it remains a favourite film of my generation.
The story, based on the 1906 book by E Nesbit, tells of three children and their mother leaving their comfortable London home to live near a country railway, in mysterious circumstances.
It takes some time for the viewer to learn of their father’s wrongful imprisonment on suspicion of his being a spy, selling state secrets.
Their new home, Three Chimneys, is different from what they are used to – dirty, tumbledown and rat-infested. But the children adapt to their new impoverished life, making friends with the stationmaster Mr Perks and waving to passengers on the passing trains.
It is a gentle tale of friendship, family and love, with the children involved in escapades: rescuing a boy trapped in a tunnel; helping a lost Russian gentleman; finding ways to make ends meet when their mother falls ill; celebrating Mr Perks’s birthday; and the eventual discovery of their father’s alleged crimes.
That leads to the need to clear his name and secure his release. The film draws to a close with the memorable ‘lump in the throat’ scene of the