Family films these days are mostly CGI-ridden with very little sense of adventure. Viewing the simplicity of these two films makes me wish I was around when they were released. It's all jolly good fun with lashings of lemonade and sandwiches, sent to beautiful backdrops. Dated of course, but not in a bad way. They make a refreshing change although children of a certain age may not appreciate the 'stiff upper lip' British-ness of these two classics and would prefer to watch Harry Potter ;-)
The now-unavailable DVD release presents a mixture of good and bad. No extras to speak of, and the film print of Swallows and Amazons is rather battered, the widescreen print of The Railway Children is better, but by no means as good as it could have been. The original RRP for two films is pretty decent, but you'll struggle to find them for under £20 now.