The Railway Children

In 1944, Britain endures another harsh wave of bombings as World War II rages on. The Watts children—Lily Watts (14), Pattie Watts (11), and Ted Watts (7)—are evacuated from Manchester and sent to the quiet village of Oakworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire. There, they are welcomed by Bobbie Waterbury, her schoolmistress daughter Annie, and her 13-year-old son Thomas. Local families are eager to offer homes, but officials insist the siblings stay together, so the Watts trio remain as a unit. When no one else volunteers, Bobbie offers them shelter in her home, and the siblings soon form a warm bond with Thomas.

The presence of the evacuees unsettles the town, especially given a nearby US Army base. On their first evening, a disturbance ripples through the area as locals react to the unusual arrival. As the children explore their new surroundings, they are challenged by a group of local kids, and Thomas invites them to his secret hideout—a commandeered brake van beside the railway station—where they can trade stories and plot a way forward.

Meanwhile, Annie learns grim news about her husband, who is away fighting, a reminder of the losses that have already touched Bobbie’s life—the deaths of her own husband and brother in the First World War. The children take this in, giving the adults space to cope as they continue to settle in. During a game of hide and seek at the station, the children stumble upon Abe McCarthy, an African-American soldier with an injured leg who says he is on a secret mission and must stay hidden. That evening, a lone enemy aircraft bombs the town cemetery, and Lily volunteers to bring a first-aid kit and supplies to Abe. He saves her, revealing that he joined the Army to avenge his brother who was killed in combat, but the details about his past raise Lily’s suspicions.

The next day, white American Military Police arrive at the school looking for Abe. Lily learns that Abe is regarded as a deserter, but Abe counters by revealing a troubling truth: he is the same age as Lily and is trying to return home after witnessing how Black soldiers are treated by MPs. He also explains his frustration with a system that tolerates such injustices, even as the town resists a color bar in its local pub. Struck by his humanity, Lily agrees to help him escape.

When Lily discusses the plan with the others, Thomas initially urges telling the grown-ups the whole truth. Lily, however, challenges his sheltered view of the world and reminds him that their father was killed in combat. Ultimately, Thomas relents and allows Abe to stay in the large storeroom next to his bedroom.

That evening, Walter—the widowed husband of Bobbie’s sister Phyllis—visits the house, adding another layer to the family’s wartime worries. The following day, Lily escorts Abe to the station to catch a train to Liverpool, while Thomas stays behind to create a distraction so they can slip away unseen. The plan is thwarted when they are stopped and searched by local police who alert the US MPs. Abe and Lily are handcuffed, taken to the base, and loaded onto a US Army supply train that carries senior officers.

Confronted by Thomas, Annie explains that his father’s plane was shot down but that he is alive in a prisoner-of-war camp. Sharing what he learned with Walter, Thomas discovers the existence of the train and the threat it poses. He rallies Pattie, Ted, and the other evacuee children to craft banners warning the train to halt, mirroring a protest carried out by Bobbie and her siblings forty years earlier. The bold move succeeds, and the train is stopped just in time. The most senior general—an African-American officer—listens to Abe’s truth and acknowledges the injustice; he reveals that he, too, enlisted underage and orders Abe to be released.

Abe stays with the Watts family for a few days before returning home, promising to write to Lily. The story closes with the Watts children reuniting with their mother three months later, while Thomas’s father returns home after VE Day, signaling a fragile hope for reconciliation and peace in a wartime landscape.

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 06:47