Before You Begin

Before you begin.

When Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis leave their familiar London home for a cottage in the country, the railway becomes part of their new world. From the hill above the line they watch the trains pass; soon they are learning the rhythms of the village, making friends among its railway people, and discovering how much a small act of kindness can mean. An abrupt change has unsettled the family, and their father is far away.

E. Nesbit first published The Railway Children in 1906. Its adventures unfold beside a working railway and across the countryside around the children’s new home. Stations, cuttings, tunnels and a canal belong to the same everyday landscape, while the people who keep the railway moving bring skill, humor and warmth to the children’s lives.

This illustrated edition follows the novel’s fourteen chapters. Portraits introduce the people in the story, place plates explore their surroundings, and full-page scenes return to moments from the children’s adventures. Chapter recaps and story medallions are designed to open as you read, so each image meets you at the point the story has reached.

Turn the page and join the children at the railway’s edge.