There are similarities, of course, with the fim’s 1970 predecessor, in which Bobbie and her siblings save a local train from disaster. But in The Railway Children Returns, Lily and company are more likely to disrupt the rail network to fight social injustice (evidence, perhaps, of a shift in thinking about what constitutes good citizenship). The film also explores how close children can be to grief, trauma and state-sanctioned violence. From Abe’s underage recruitment to Lily being the ‘man of the house’ in her father’s absence, it acknowledges the burdens children bear foradults.