STORY SYNOPSIS
Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis live with their Mother and Father in London. One evening, two gentleman knock on the door to arrest their father, works at the Foreign Office, on suspicion of being a spy.
Mother is forced to dismiss their servants and move with the children to a house called Three Chimneys in Yorkshire, near to Oakworth railway station. When they arrive, they find the house in a mess and rat-infested. The three children find amusement in watching the trains on the nearby railway line and waving to the passengers. They become friends with Albert Perks, the station porter, and with an elderly gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train.
To make ends meet, their mother works as a writer and home-schools the children. When she sadly falls ill, the children write to ‘the old gentleman’, who delivers food and medicine to the house to help their mother recover.
The following day, a man collapses at the railway station. He speaks a language no one understands, but the children discover he also speaks French, in which their mother is fluent. She learns from him that he is an exiled Russian writer who has arrived in England in search of his family, who have fled there. While he stays at their house, Bobbie writes another letter to the old gentleman, and with his help the family is soon found.
One day, the children witness a landslide which has partially obstructed the tracks. The girls fashion their red petticoats into flags to warn the driver of the impending danger and the train stops in time. The railway company and villagers hold a party for the children, and they are given personalised engraved watches.
Discovering that Mr Perks does not celebrate his birthday, the children secretly ask for gifts from the villagers that he has helped in the past and deliver them to his house. Mr Perks initially refuses the gifts as he does not accept charity. However, after the children explain the true circumstances, he thanks them for their kindness. In return, the following day, he delivers old newspapers and magazines for them to read. There, Bobbie notices a story about their father being imprisoned. She discusses this with her mother, who finally discloses that he has been falsely convicted of being a spy and selling state secrets. Bobbie again contacts the gentleman and asks him to help; he informs her that since meeting them and reading about the case, he has been convinced of their father’s innocence.
Later a group of youths are engaged in a paper chase, which the children observe, and one boy injures his leg in a railway tunnel. Helped by the children, he is taken to their house to recuperate from his injuries. The old gentleman visits their home and reveals that the boy is his grandson, Jim, and thanks the family for looking after him. Jim and Bobbie grow close during his recuperation and promise to write to each other when he goes home.
After Jim leaves, the children remark on their long absence from waving at the train passengers and resolve to go to the railway the following morning. When they do so, all the passengers wave at them. Bobbie walks down to the station, where Perks hints that something special has happened. Confused, Bobbie stands on the platform, where in the lingering smoke she sees her father, who has just alighted after being exonerated and released from prison. She runs to greet him shouting “Daddy; my Daddy!”.
THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION