Thomas and the Bees (magazine story)

Thomas and the Bees is a magazine story.

Plot
One warm spring morning, Thomas is standing in the sunshine after pulling several trains up and down his branch line. When his driver goes to check his wheels before their next train, he spots a large, moving lump on Thomas' side tank. The fireman comes around to look and identifies it as a swarm of bees. Not knowing what to do, they ask Toby to take Thomas' next train while they call the Fat Controller.

The Fat Controller asks one of their passengers, who is a beekeeper, if he knows what to do. The beekeeper arrives in a special suit, puts a basket over the bees and blows smoke at them from a machine. The bees then become drowsy and cling to the basket, which the beekeeper safely seals with a net once all the bees are inside. He then takes them away to a new hive, to everyone's relief.

Later that day, the beekeeper comes back, this time not in the special suit. He apologises for any trouble they may have caused and gives the Fat Controller and Thomas' crew honey sandwiches.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Toby

Goofs

 * In the final illustration, Thomas' buffer housing is coloured purple and a portion of the bufferbeam is coloured green.
 * In the ninth and final illustrations, Thomas' crew wear blue shirts instead of white.