Date: June 3rd
Category: Cultural History | Radical Childhoods | Fiction Meets Reality
Wave a petticoat at a passing train and you might just save a life — or spark a resistance.
Today, we’re taking a fresh look at The Railway Children, E. Nesbit’s much-loved Edwardian tale of innocence, steam, and sandwiches — and discovering that beneath the tea and trauma lies a quietly radical heart.
Because The Railway Children weren’t just waving at engines and making friends with porters.
They were organising, strategising, and — dare we say it — resisting.
đź“š A Quick Refresher
First published in 1906, The Railway Children follows Roberta (Bobbie), Peter, and Phyllis after their father is mysteriously taken away (he’s been falsely imprisoned, though the children don’t know this at first). They move with their mother to a small house near a country railway station and embark on a series of adventures involving landslides, refugees, red petticoats, and heroic acts of kindness.
“Mother said it was wrong to hate people, but it was so hard not to hate the people who had taken Father away.”
— Roberta, The Railway Children
🧤 So… How Were They Rebels?
Let us count the ways.
🛤️ 1. They Disrupted the Railway
Let’s not forget that iconic moment when Bobbie halts an oncoming train with her red petticoat. Sure, it’s to save lives after a landslide — but imagine trying that on the Piccadilly Line. The siblings commandeer railway infrastructure to enact a safety protest. That’s civil disobedience with lace trim.
đź’Ś 2. They Challenge Injustice
The children don’t just accept their father’s imprisonment — they question power, ask uncomfortable questions, and ultimately help uncover the truth. This mirrors real-life cases where children and young women played key roles in campaigns for justice in Edwardian Britain.
🧳 3. They Aid a Political Refugee
The children befriend Mr. Szczepansky, a Russian exile wrongly suspected of spying. He’s actually a writer fleeing political persecution — a not-so-subtle nod to contemporary fears about anarchists and exiles during the Russian revolutions of 1905. Their compassion toward him is quietly subversive.
✊ In real life, Britain had a growing community of political refugees — many of whom were supported by grassroots networks, including radical writers like Nesbit herself.
🧵 4. Their Mother Was a Stealthy Socialist
Did you know Edith Nesbit was a founding member of the Fabian Society? That’s right — she rolled with early British socialists like George Bernard Shaw and was passionate about education, equality, and radical reform.
The Railway Children mother writes stories to survive, refuses charity, and models quiet resistance to her children. She’s basically a Marxist Mrs Weasley.
🚂 Fictional, Yes — But Rooted in Reality
Nesbit’s work reflects a time when:
- Railways symbolised both progress and displacement
- Political prisoners were real and often ignored
- Children were starting to be seen as agents of moral clarity, not just decoration
- Resistance was as likely to come from a petticoat as a protest banner
🔍 Literary historians have called The Railway Children “a socialist fairy tale in Edwardian tweed.”
đź“š Want to Know More?
- E. Nesbit: A Woman of Passion by Julia Briggs
- The Railway Children (BBC 1970 or the 2022 remake — both recommended!)
- Fabian Essays in Socialism – where Nesbit’s political friends wrote
💬 What’s Your Railway Fiction Favourite?
Do you have a story where the railway meant freedom, protest, or transformation?
Share it using #RebelsOfTheRailway and tag @TimeTravellersGuild — we’ll feature our favourites in this week’s round-up.
