The Railway Children

Fiction | Book | Middle Grade | Published in 1906

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-14

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Peter’s Toy Engine

Peter receives a toy engine on his birthday at the beginning of the novel, and the engine becomes a symbol of both the real railway the children will soon live by out in the countryside, as well as the wholeness of their idealized family unit. The engine is described as “more perfect than you could ever have dreamed of” (7), reinforcing the idea that at the time Peter receives the engine as a gift, the lives of the children are as idyllic and privileged as possible.

When the toy engine breaks, Peter seeks out his father to fix it. But the breaking of Peter’s toy engine and Father’s disgrace occur on the same day, and Father is charged with treason before he has the chance to repair the toy engine for Peter. The breaking of the engine therefore symbolizes the rupture of the family unit, and Father’s inability to fix the engine before his arrest signals that his role within the family has now undergone a radical transformation. Peter takes his broken engine with him to the countryside, and the engine continues to make occasional appearances in the novel, reminding the reader of the broken family unit while also suggesting that the family—just like the toy engine—may one day be repaired.

The Railway and the Green Dragon

In the country, the children feel strongly drawn to the railway, which “seemed to be all that was left to link the children to the old life that had once been theirs” (61). The railway symbolizes the privileged life and complete family unit the children have left behind, while also suggesting that those links have not yet been irretrievably broken.

The Green Dragon is the train the children love best, and most significantly, it is the train that carries their eventual benefactor, the old gentleman, through the station each day: “it was by the Green Dragon that the old gentleman travelled” (62). The children establish a ritual by which they wave their greetings to their father to the Green Dragon, in the belief that the train can carry their love to their absent parent (64). Ironically, this naïve belief is in some sense correct: the Green Dragon does maintain their links with Father by introducing them to the old gentleman, who will eventually secure their father’s release from prison, and it is the Green Dragon that will bring their father back to them at the novel’s end.

The Railway Tunnel

The railway tunnel becomes an important symbol of the times of adversity that the children are facing. The children brave a journey into the long, dark railway tunnel to help Jim, which is risky due to the danger of passing trains. During their long walk back out of the tunnel, Phyllis remarks that the tunnel seems to have “no end,” to which Peter responds, “everything has an end, and you get to it if you only keep all on” (305). The tunnel thus becomes an important symbol of the times of adversity that the children are facing—not just due to the immediate problem of Jim’s injury, but also their impoverishment and their father’s absence more generally. In urging his sister to keep going, Peter voices one of the novel’s key themes of the importance of maintaining hope and always making the best of things, no matter how bad the circumstances.

The mature reflection from Peter, in addition to Bobbie’s time spent waiting with Jim in the dark tunnel, also represents a symbol for the transition from their naïve childhood to a greater understanding of the world. The children enter the tunnel ready for another adventure, scared of the dark but forging ahead into the unknown. A train hurtles by as a metaphor for time passing by, while Bobbie chides herself for being silly as she attempts to help Jim while waiting for her siblings. The tunnel embodies the children’s act of leaving behind former childish ways and learning the hard truths of the world.

The Power of Storytelling and the Written Word

One of the key motifs in The Railway Children is storytelling. At the novel’s opening, the reader learns that Mother frequently creates poems and stories to amuse her children, and she even tries to tell them a fairy story at the moment of their father’s arrest. Once they are out in the countryside, Mother becomes the family’s breadwinner and supports the household by “writing, writing, writing” (47). The power of storytelling thus works on multiple levels, and its role changes throughout the novel depending on context. It is originally a form of escapism, then a means of sustenance, and then returns to a form of escapism when Peter remarks to Mother in Chapter 13 that he wishes she could write a story that returns Father to the family unit (335).

Significantly, the Russian Exile who stays briefly with the family is also a writer. Mother sets great store by this fact, calling the Russian Exile “a great man in his own country, [who] writes books—beautiful books” (133). The Russian Exile has suffered on account of his writing, since his book about poverty led to his imprisonment under the Tsarist regime (138). Writing is thus depicted in the novel as a powerful force for good, a way of upholding values and a means by which one can cope with the struggles that life presents.