Vintage carriage and Railway Children make two classics

THE FINISHING touches are being put to a railway carriage ahead of a hugely-successful theatre production of the Railway Children.

This summer, York Theatre Royal’s The Railway Children, which is an adaptation of E Nesbit’s classic novel, will return to the city’s National Railway Museum, where it was first staged in 2008 before a run in London. The carriage, built in 1912, is being renovated ahead of the return of the production.

Carriage No 5318 is owned by Stephen Middleton and built for the directors of the London and North Western Railway which included J Bruce Ismay, the chairman of White Star Lines who is best known as a survivor of the Titanic sinking.

Mr Middleton said: “Painting is painstaking work, but it’s more than worth it to see this carriage looking its best for its starring role. Like the Railway Children itself, it’s an Edwardian classic, and it will definitely be the focus of audience attention this summer.”

The production runs from July 31 to September 5 and is part of York Theatre Royal’s residency at the museum during its £4.1m revamp. A 1970 adaptation of the novel was filmed on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.