ACTOR Robin Simpson would never have expected his life to be dominated by trains.

But that is exactly what is happening to the Slaithwaite-based actor.

Each day, he commutes from his home in the Colne Valley to rehearsals in York – by train.

And recently, he was introduced to his latest co-star and like all other members of the cast was immediately smitten – by a steam train.

Robin is part of a company of actors brought together by York Theatre Royal to create what will be a unique production of E S Nesbit’s much loved children’s classic, The Railway Children.

Unique because the four-week long series of performances will feature an 1870 steam locomotive and will be staged in a specially constructed theatre space at York’s National Railway Museum.

For a self-confessed non-train buff, Robin seems pretty excited.

“I’m not a train person at all but when I went to see the engine that we are using in the show, I thought that it was beautiful. It is such a piece of engineering and design.

“It has lots of lovely curves and lots of brass. Things got more simple and utilitarian after that period.

“It’s an absolutely stunning engine and we all just fell in love with it. You still have that little boy feeling that you just want to get on it.

“I’m so excited about the show. We’ve been in the space itself which is just an empty hall at the moment. But in the next few weeks, all that will change.

“It is going to be an absolutely amazing event. The audience will be issued with rail, not theatre tickets, which they will have to have clipped by an inspector as soon as they approach the performance space.

“The children involved will be given suitcases to put down on the set. It’s all intended to feel like an old-fashioned rail journey.”

And after all, that’s what lies at the heart of this familiar story which sees three young children having to grow up quickly when circumstances which they don’t at first understand see them having to cope with a very different kind of living.

Robin plays a number of parts including that of a Russian prisoner of war who is helped by the children.

“I’ve been spending this morning learning my lines in Russian helped by a very nice Russian lady. It’s a big help getting into the character. It will make it feel more believable if I sound genuinely Russian.”

Robin is also playing Jim, the injured boy who is helped by the railway children. “I spend a lot of my time as Jim lying on the floor in pain!

“We were rehearsing Jim’s scene where he was stuck in a tunnel and breaks his leg. I went home that day by train as usual – and got stuck in a tunnel on the train!”

Robin commutes daily from his home in Slaithwaite where he lives with his wife, Susanna, their daughter Polly who is four and their son, Jonah who is two.

See the Railway Children at the National Railway Museum in York from July 18 to August 23. Tickets on 01904 623568.