IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

1. WHEN MOTHER FALLS ILL ( CHAPTER 3 )

Mother falls ill. Peter fetches Dr Forrest. The doctor gives the children a list of food that their
mother needs. Mother says they have no money to buy the things on the list. The children write a
message on a white sheet for the old gentleman on the 9.15 train. It tells him to look out for
something at the station. Phyllis gives the old gentleman a letter. The letter explains what
happened to the childrens mother and asks the old gentleman for help to get the things on the
doctors list. That evening, Perks delivers a large box to the childrens house. Inside the box are all
the things in the list plus some extra things and a letter from the old gentleman.

2. SAVING THE TRAIN ( CHAPTER 5 )
One day, the children took a walk along the top of the hill beside the railway line. Suddenly, they
heard a noise and saw half the hillside crashed down onto the railway line below. The children
realised that the 11.29 a.m train was in danger. They used the girls red petticoat to make six flags
to warn the train. The train came down the track too fast. Bobbie was afraid that it would not see
them. She ran onto the line waving two flags. The train stopped just twenty metres away from
Bobbie.

3. A BIRTHDAY FOR PERKS ( CHAPTER 6 )
The children asked to have the cakes on Thursday. They wanted to make a birthday tea for Perks.
Peter wanted to ask everybody in the village to help them give Perks a nice birthday. Not everyone
was kind. Old Mrs Ransome said no one remembered her birthday so she did not want to help but
many gave them all kinds of things to Perks. The next day, Bobbie and Phyllis gave Mrs. Ransome
roses and a handkerchief for her birthday. On Thursday, the children went around to collect
presents the people had promised. At three oclock, the children took the presents and the pram to
Perks house. When Perks came home and saw the pram and the presents, he was angry. He
thought people would laugh at him for being poor and needing their things. Bobbie explained that
the people wanted to give him the presents because they liked him. Perks calmed down. He was
glad that his neighbours thought so kindly of him. The children stayed for tea.






There are a few more important events, identify them.
NOTE: You must remember the important events in the novel. This is because you need to support
your answer with examples and the examples are the events. For example, the question on the
character you like best. If you choose Bobbie as the character you like best because she is brave, to
support your reason you need to give evidence ( or event in the novel ). The evidence in the novel
can be "when she and her siblings saved the train".




THE RAILWAY CHILDREN - Saving The Train

One day, Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis saw a land slide happen right in front of their eyes. The
land slide blocked the railway line below. It was already past 11 o'clock and the 11.29 train hadn't
passed by yet. They wanted to alert the station but there wasn't enough time. So, they quickly
came up with a plan to alert the train driver.

The girls took off their red petticoats and cut them into six pieces. They put them on to
sticks. They had six red flags. They pushed two of the flags into heaps of stones between the lines.
Bobbie and Phyllis each took one. Peter took the other two. They stood beside the railway line
ready to wave. After a long time they heard the train coming.

The children waved their flags frantically. The train came very, very fast. Suddenly, Bobbie
ran on to the line. Peter shouted at her to get back but she did not move from the line. She waved
and waved her flags, shouting 'Stop, stop!' as the big black engine came towards her. Finally, the
train stopped twenty metres from Bobbie. Peter and Phyllis quickly ran and told the train driver
about the landslide. Bobbie froze on the tracks because of fright and just sat down on the ground.

At last the children managed to save the train from meeting with an accident. The eventful
day was known as the 'red-petticoat day'.

A few weeks later, they were presented with a beautiful gold watch each by the Northern
and Southern Railway Company at the station. Many people were there including the people who
had been on the train on the 'red-petticoat day'. The watches were as a gesture of thanks for their
brave and sensible deed on the 'red-petticoat day'.