THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

Chapter 1: The Beginning of Things

1. The three children, Roberta or Bobbie (12), Peter (10) and Phyllis (about 8) lived with
their parents in London. They were rich.
2. One day, two men came. They and Father argued. Father went away and did not come
home. The family became poor.
3. Actually, the two men took Father away.
4. The maid went away and Mother always went out.
5. Then, the children and their mother went to live in a little house near the railway in the
country.
6. This house was not like their London house. It was cold, dark and noisy.

Chapter 2: Peter and the Coal

1. Mother and the children could not find supper that Mrs. Viney was supposed to have
made for them. They ate the food that they had brought and drank water.
2. Then, the children put blankets and sheets on the beds.
3. Next morning, Mother found their supper and Mrs. Viney’s letter in a small square room.
They all ate the supper for breakfast.
4. The children helped Mother to unpack and arrange everything in the rooms.
5. Then they walked down the hill to the railway station.
6. At the station yard, they saw a big heap of coal. It was used for the engines of steam
trains. They also saw a white line on the wall behind the top the heap of coal. The white
line showed how much coal there was and it helped to catch anyone who stole it.
7. It rained for three days. It was cold but Mother did not let the children light a fire in June
because coal was expensive.
8. One afternoon, Peter told his sisters that he had an idea but he did not tell them what it
was. He stole the coal from the station and hid it between some stones.
9. Two nights later, he told his sisters that he found some coal and they all carried it home.
10. One night, the Station Master caught Peter stealing the coal.
11. The Station Master asked them why they were stealing coal. Peter explained that there
was so much coal and he thought that no one would mind. He also said that they were too
poor to have a fire.
12. The Station Master warned them and let them go.
Chapter 3: The Old Gentleman

1. The 9.15 train went to London. One day, the children waved at it. They pretended that the
9.15 train was magic train and it could take their love to Father in London.
2. A nice old gentleman travelled on the 9.15 train every morning. He waved back to them
every day. The children pretended that he knew Father and was taking their love to him
too.
3. The children did not go to the station after the coal incident because Peter was afraid of
the Station Master. One day, they met him. He told them that he had forgiven them and
asked them to come to the station when they liked.
4. That day, they went to the station and talked with Perks, the porter.
5. One day Mother was very ill. Peter fetched Dr. Forrest. He wrote down the things Mother
needed to get well.
6. The children could only think of the old gentleman to get help. Peter and Phyllis wrote a
message on a big white sheet and they wrote a letter to him.
7. In their letter to the old gentleman, they wrote that Mother was ill and needed some
things. They were too poor to buy them and they would pay him later.
8. Peter fixed the white sheet to the fence. When the 9.15 train came, the old gentleman read
it and at the station, Phyllis gave him the letter.
9. The old gentleman gave them the things they had asked for and some they had not. Perks
sent the things for Mother and a letter to the children’s house.
10. The old gentleman had written that the children did the right thing. He advised them to
tell Mother the truth after she got well.

Chapter 4: Bobbie’s Ride

1. Two weeks later, the children put up another message for the old gentleman. They
thanked and informed him that Mother was nearly well.
2. The children told Mother that the old gentleman gave her the things that she needed to get
well.
3. Mother was angry and the children were upset to make her unhappy.
4. Mother wrote a letter to thanks the old gentleman.
5. The next day, they celebrated Bobbie’s birthday. Everyone gave her a present. Peter filled
his toy engine with sweets for Bobbie. He said that she could take only the sweet.
6. Bobbie was disappointed so Peter gave her half the toy engine. She took the broken half
to get it mended.
7. The next day, she took it to the place where the engines stopped. She stood on the step of
one engine. Suddenly it moved and she fell on to a heap of coal.
8. The driver and fireman were shocked to see Bobbie in the coal. She told them that she
came because she wanted them to mend the broken toy engine.
 9. They agree to mend it. She went with them to Stackpoole Junction. There, the two men
put her on the train home.
10. Some weeks later, Bobbie took Peter and Phyllis to meet the two railwaymen. Peter was
excited that they had mended his toy engine. In the way home, Bobby told them about her
adventure on the engine of a steam engine.

Chapter 5: Saving the Train

1. One day, the children saw a landslide on the opposite side of the railway line. Trees and
stones fell on the railway line. An accident was going to happen.
2. The 11.29 train would soon come. From round the corner, the driver would not be able to
see the heap of trees and rocks on the line.
3. There was no time to inform the railwaymen at the station. Peter made six flag from his
sisters’ red petticoats. He pushed two flags in between some stones on the railway line.
4. When the train came, the children waved the flags.
5. Suddenly the flags on the railway line fell. Bobbie ran on to the line and stood there
waving the flags until the train stopped. The train and the passengers were safe.
6. Peter and Phyllis told the driver about the landslide.
7. The Northern and Southern Railway Company invited the children to the station.
8. The, the old gentleman went with the children to their house.
9. Mother thanked him for the things he gave her when she was ill. Then she told him that
she could not invite him to their house again.

Chapter 6: A Birthday for Perks

1. Mother sold another story and wanted to buy cakes for tea but the children wanted it for
Perks’s birthday because he was good to them.
2. Perks had told Bobbie that his birthday was on Thursday, the 15th.
3. Peter suggested collecting presents from the villagers who wanted to help them give
Perks a nice birthday.
4. The children collected the presents. Some gave their presents kindly but some like Mrs.
Ransome, did not.
5. Bobbie and Phyllis gave Mrs. Ransome a present. Then, she gave them a pram and some
apple for Perks’s children.
6. The children sent all the presents in a pram to Perks’s house.
7. Perks refused to take the presents at first. He did not want charity.
8. The children cried. Bobbie explained why people gave him the presents. After that, Perks
accepted them because people thought kindly of him.
Chapter 7: The Terrible Secret

1. The children stopped asking Mother about Father because she was unhappy. But, they
always thought about him.
2. Bobbie was worried about Mother and wondered why Father was away so long.
3. One day, Bobbie went to fetch the old magazines people left at the station. Perks put
some newspaper round the magazines.
4. On the way, Bobbie read the newspaper and found out that Father was imprisoned for
five years for spying.
5. Bobbie was very quite at tea-time and Mother asked why. She showed Mother the
newspaper.
6. Then, Mother told Bobbie what happened in the old house when the two men came. They
suspected Father of spying for another country. The police found some letters in Father’s
drawer at his office.
7. Mother told Bobbie that Father was innocent because he was good and honest.
8. Mother also said that the man who got Father’s job never liked him. He had always
wanted Father’s job.
9. Bobbie did not tell this terrible secret to Peter and Phyllis.
10. She wrote a letter to the old gentleman and asked him to find the real spy.

Chapter 8: The Boy in the Red Shirt

1. The children were watching the boys from the school in Maidbridge having a paper-chase
that morning.
2. The boys ran along the railway line through the tunnel. First, the hare ran dropping pieces
of paper behind him. All the other boys who were the hounds ran after him. The last boy
or hound was wearing a red shirt.
3. The last boy in the red shirt did not come out of the tunnel, so the children went to look
for him.
4. They saw the boy inside the tunnel beside the railway line. He had broken his leg. His
name was Jim. He was from Northumberland.
5. Bobbie stayed with Jim. She told Peter and Phyllis to get help from the farm nearby.
6. Peter and Phyllis came back with some men from the farm. They carried Jim to their
house.
7. Mother sent for Dr. Forrest. She also wrote to Jim’s school and his grandfather to inform
them that Jim had broken his leg.
8. The old gentleman came to see Jim. He was Jim’s grandfather.
9. Mother let Jim stay in their house.
10. Jim’s grandfather wanted to get a nurse for him but Mother agreed to look after him. She
also agreed to stop writing until Jim was well.
 11. Jim’s grandfather said that he would send a maid and someone to cook their meals.
12. The old gentleman told Bobbie that he had read about Father in the newspaper before
getting her letter. He said that he was trying to help and told Bobbie to keep the secret.

Chapter 9: The Man at the Station

1. Life at the white house was quite different now. Jim’s leg got better. He told Mother and
the children stories about his school. Mother could teach the children at home as she was
not writing stories every day.
2. The children began to wave to the 9.15 train and send their love to Father by it again.
3. That morning, Bobbie found it hard to study because she felt something was going to
happen.
4. She went to the station to talk to Perks but he was busy.
5. Father came back home by the 11.54 train. Bobbie was very happy to see him. He was a
free man now because they caught the real spy.
6. The old gentleman had helped to find the real spy.
7. When Bobbie and Father reached home, Father told Bobbie to tell Mother the good news.