The Railway Children

After their father mysteriously disappears, a family is reduced in income and stature. They move to the country near a rail line. There the children learn more of life and people then they would have in their previous pampered environment. Many of their neighbors also learn a few things about sacrifice and friendship. Meantime the children, while worried as to the disappearance of their father, begin waving to passing trains and this leads to many adventures.

Jenny Agutter played Bobbie Waterbury in the 1970 version. In this version, she plays "mother".

Even though the story is transparent, the execution is excellent. The acting is superb and the costumes, even the train, fit the period of the story. I may have been stretch to believe in a philanthropic railroad tycoon.