2009/18

The Railway Children,

This is a promotional poster for the 1970 film adaptation of Edith Nesbit's 1906 novel, 'The Railway Children'. The story follows a middle class family who move to the country after falling on hard times. It was filmed on location on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, a preserved steam railway line in West Yorkshire.

printed colour poster; paper; foldmarks

MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Original poster for the 1970 film version of Edith Nesbit's 1906 novel The Railway Children // directed by Lionel Jefferies + starring Jenny Agutter. // Filmed on location at the Keighley + Worth Valley Railway in W. Yorkshire. // ... Described as the quintessential English film. // Purchased as part of the Collecting 20th Century Rural Culture project.', MERL OLIB database note – ' The film premiered at Christmas 1970 and has been a holiday favourite ever since. Lionel Jefferies wrote the screenplay and directed; Jenny Agutter starred as Bobby, Dinah Sheridan as the mother; Bernard Cribbins as Perks. The film was shot on location on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, a preserved steam line. It followed a BBC tv serial of 1968, shot on the same railway and also starring Jenny Agutter but the film version overshadows everything else including the book itself. The story is of a middle class family fallen on hard times - when the father is wrongly arrested - and forced to re-locate to the country where the nearby railway line becomes of the focus of the children's world. It is a deliberately nostalgic film set in the Edwardian era and with the Bronte country of the West Riding of Yorkshire also taking a starring role.'

1970 - 1970

Jeffries, Lionel (Director)
Nesbit, Edith (Author)
Keighley & Worth Valley Railway