Edith Nesbit 
The Railway Children 

First serialized in 1905, “The Railway Children”, by English author and poet Edith Nesbit, is the entertaining and heart-warming story of three siblings, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. The children and their mother move to “The Three Chimneys”, a house near a railway, when their father, who works for the Foreign Office, is wrongly accused and falsely imprisoned for selling government secrets to the Russians. The children pass the time by watching the railcars go by and waving to the passengers riding the trains. Eventually they meet and befriend Perks, the station porter and a kind old gentleman, who may be able to help free their father from his wrongful imprisonment. After the family is reunited, the children and their parents extend their kindness to others and help both a man exiled from Russia find his lost family, and Jim, the grandson of Perks, who suffered from a broken leg in a tunnel accident. Nesbit’s timeless story of family, generosity, and benevolence continues to captivate audiences young and old alike. This edition includes a biographical afterword.