SYNOPSIS

The Railway Children is a wonderful story . The story tells about three children, Roberta (Bobbie), Peter
and Phyllis are living a lovely, secure life at Edgecomb Villa. Their father returns home after being away
on business, two unknown men come to visit him in the evening after supper, and he simply disappears.
Neither the reader nor the children know what has happened to him until Bobbie makes a chance discovery
and learns the horrible truth.

In the intervening time, their mother, a capable and charming woman, takes her children to live in the
country near a railway station, because they must "play at being poor for a while." The children handle their
new situation with grace and wit, spending hours hanging about the railway station and generally keeping
themselves busy, and in the process becoming fast friends with the porter, Perks, and the station master.
They also become acquainted with their own old gentleman who lends a hand to help them time and again.
Bobbie is the eldest and sweetest of the children, with a longing to be truly good. Peter is the boy, who is
madly in love with trains, stubbornly refuses to be pushed around, and exhibits an extraordinary courage in
the rescue of a baby and a young man in a train tunnel. Phyllis is the youngest, a funny, clumsy child with
good intentions that often seem to go awry.

This sentimental favorite children's book has the moral values of E. Nesbitt, who was a famous liberal
activist (Fabian Socialist) in England. She creates a household utopian vision of a world where people are
naturally good and where parents raise their children to be helpful and honest and brave.

This provides the background charm for a really lovely tale about a family in distress who sticks together
bravely and provides a shining example to all around them, while being aided by equally high-minded and
kind folks around them.

A knock on the door at the idyllic middle class town home of the children ends with a tragedy that they can
scarcely understand. But Mother is brave and despite rumors of terrible things, they make their way to a
more modest home in the country, next to a railway line. The children become friends with the trains and
the regular commuters who wave at them. Their fascination with the train results in a heroic rescue.
Meanwhile, their situation is sometimes difficult, and they develop some remarkable strategies for getting
aid. There is a happy ending.

The morals taught to the children are particularly British (helpful, kind, brave) but certainly apply to us as
well. The goodness that the children spread is really a lovely message and contributes to the charm and
longevity of this great story.