Dante being allocated to Wellsworth meant the Northern Line had a lack of motive power. To combat this, Perkins ended up bringing up year-old designs of a 4-4-0 similar to the Midland Compounds. So much so the LMS accused him of stealing the design. Fortunately, the drawings Perkins had were in HIS handwriting, not that of Samuel Johnson. Also, they were dated 1923, not 1902. Finally, these 4-4-0s only had two cylinders, not four, and they weren't compounds either. Satisfied, the LMS left Perkins alone. A total of three were built at Armstrong Whitworth, arriving by May, and were used on all passenger services on the Northern Line. Five had been planned, but the extra two were found to be unnecessary. They ended up being classified as NWR S1.

However, this story isn't about the S1s, it's about Barbara.

When her repairs were finished in May, she was sent over to Wellsworth where Edward would teach her how to handle coaches. Needless to say, she wasn't the most cooperative student: as much as she tried to be gentle, Barbara would end up getting rough with coaches no matter what.

In late April and Early June, Ballaswein became a popular vacation spot, which led to an increase in traffic. Luci and the S1s found themselves unable to handle the workload, especially since goods on the mainline were becoming just as popular. Consequently, Luci was spending more time on the main line than he was on the Northern Line.

The Fat Director weighed his options. Lily was committed to the Kirk Ronan branch line, James wasn't to be trusted, Gordon and Henry worked the mainline, John and Emily worked the Arlesburgh Line, and Thomas was at Ffarquhar. That left Luoc, Hurricane, Ian, and Barbara. He went over to Wellsworth to see how Barbara was getting on.

Edward had shadows under his eyes. He seemed to be tired.

"My lord! Is everything ok, Edward?" asked the Fat Director, concerned.

"It's Barbara," admitted Edward. "Every time she makes progress, something happens that brings her back to square one. It's like she can't control her anger for some reason."

The Fat Director pondered.

"Perhaps she's had something bad happen to her," he said. "I'll talk to her."

Barbara was abusing some trucks, who weren't used to HER being this violent.

"My buffers!" one complained.

"I don't care! snapped Barbara. "We don't have time for this!"

"You caused an axle to snap!" complained another truck.

"I need a new coupling!" a third added.

"There's bugs in my wood!"

All the other trucks stared at the privately-owned 7 plank wagon that just spoke.

"What? It's true," said the truck.

"Ehem!"

They all turned to the Fat Director, who strode over to Barbara.

"Is everything alright, Barbara?" he asked. "I heard you've been having some, uh, complications when it comes to coaches."

"Oh, really?" she snarked.

"Thus, I've decided to transfer you over to the Ballaswein main line," said the Fat Director. "Maybe being stuck on this branch line is getting to be too much for you. The Northern Line is much longer and will give you a good run."

"Thank you sir."

Ian was also assigned there. However, he was feeling superstitious, something about a death ray being given to the Air Ministry, which Barbara decided to ignore: she was too busy with her own problems.

On the other hand, Luci was happy. It was a lovely summer, and for him, it had been a good year. However, he soon found this was about to change:twas alright, but one morning, he arrived at Ballaswein to find Barbara behind a set of derailed coaches.

"Sweet mother of Robinson, what on earth happened?!" Luci asked in shock.

"I…I…I don't know," said Barbara slowly.

"What do you mean you don't know? You clearly pushed them, surely you…"

"I SAID I DON'T KNOW!" snapped Barbara. "One minute I was shunting them, the next…everything went black! I don't know what happened!"

"Okay…?"

Ian began to say something, but she shot a death glare at him. Barbara then steamed away, while Luci glanced at Ian with a grin.

"I see who wears the pants in that relationship," he chuckled.

"It's not like that!" snapped Ian.

"Oh really? Why else would you stop after she gave you that glare then?"

"First off, I know you like her. Second, well…it's complicated."

"Complicated, huh?"

"While shunting, she stopped, went silent, then started shouting for somebody to stop…something," Ian said.

"That does indeed sound troubling," agreed Luci.

"And if she keeps this up," continued Ian, "she could become the first target of the death ray?"

"Death ray? What are you getting at?" asked Luci.

"This Harry Grindell Matthews fellow claims to have a death ray he invented that he's trying to sell to the British Air Ministry," said Ian. "He's yet to show a functioning model, but…he could any day and Barbara will most likely be their first target."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Luci said with a reassuring smile. "They have far greater things to test a death ray on than one simple engine. No matter what happens, Barbara will be fine."

Ian's guard blew his whistle and the Atlantic steamed off. Luci stood where he was, deep in thought. He knew Barbara hadn't had an aversion to passenger trains before the Great War. Did something happen to her after he went to Sodor?

"Maybe I should ask her?" he thought. "Then again, it took Lily a while to admit her troubles. Perhaps Neil has an answer."

Luci found he would be too busy to make a trip to Crovan's Gate that day. Same as the next day. Instead, he decided to speak to Lily when they met at Vicarstown.

"So…you're telling me she wasn't like that before?" Lily asked.

"Yes,"Luci confirmed. "She used to love passenger trains. Nowadays, it seems…something's changed. I suspect it's some sort of trauma she's encountered. You know all about that."

"Hmm…she said something about making it stop?"

"That's right, must've been something that occurred during the war," said Luci.

"Talk to her, then," Lily stated plainly. "Nothing else for it."

"Okay…wish me luck," said Luci. He was due to take a passenger train next.

He ran into Barbara at Waterwaithe, waiting there with a post train.

"Hey, Barbara, did anything happen after I left for this Island?" Luci asked. Barbara stared for a moment.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about? Of course things happened. You departed back in 1915," reminded Barbara. "It was during the War, a lot of…"

"I meant," interrupted Luci, "did anything happen…to you?"

Barbara's eyes widened and her face went pale. She began to stutter something, but Luci couldn't quite understand it.

"Barbara, are you ok?" he asked.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" she shrieked, bumping the post vans as she did so. Letters and parcels spilled everywhere!

"You clumsy, great engine!" scolded the stationmaster. "Now we'll be delayed while we resort all of these…"

"I SAID STAY AWAY!" Barbara shouted. She bumped the vans again, causing some parcels to drop onto the tracks, where she crushed them. Her crew found themselves fighting to keep her under control as she began rolling back and forth in a blind panic. Luci ended up reversing until the crossover was in front of him. Then the fireman changed the points, uncoupled him, and the O4 bumped hard into Barbara.

"BARBARA, SNAP OUT OF IT!" he shouted.

"I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO DO THIS AGAIN!"

Luci kept bumping her, trying to get her to stop, but it was no good. Eventually, her screaming did stop, and Luci found out why when he took a look at her: she had been knocked out.

"Oh dear: seems I bumped her too hard," remarked Luci.

"I don't think you had a choice," said his driver. "Nothing else was working."

"Regardless, what do we do about the parcels she damaged?" asked the stationmaster. "Not to mention, some of the workmen got injured when her bump caused them to trip."

All trains on the Northern Line were halted and the Fat Director was called to assess the situation. One workman had nearly been crushed by the train, and was furious.

"This engine tried to kill me!" he shouted.

"Which one?" asked Luci. "There are two engines here you know."

The workman kept screaming and cursing like a drunken sailor until the Stationmaster slapped him twice.

"Get a hold of yourself!" he shouted. The Fat Director took a look at the situation.

"Luci," he said, turning to the O4, "for now, take Barbara down to Vicarstown: I will need to comfort her, but right now, I have to identify the addresses of any damaged parcels so we can pay the people they were being shipped to."

Luci didn't say anything: he just did as he was ordered.

Barbara opened her eyes, finding herself in Vicarstown Sheds.

"What…happened?" she asked.

"You were panicking about something and I accidentally knocked you out when I tried to snap you out of it," Luci replied. "The Fat Director ordered me to take you here."

"Accidentally knocked me out?"

"I bumped you too hard, I think, sorry about that," said Luci sheepishly.

"Wait a…you know! Stay away!"

"I can't: my crew went to take a break," Luci responded.

"How did you find out?! How did you know what I did?"

Luci was taken aback.

"Find out? Find out what?" he asked.

"I'd like to know that too," said the Fat Director. "It's clear you have a problem, and I'd like to know what it is. Please, tell me: what is it that Luci found out?"

Barbara wasn't sure what to say. She took a deep sigh before answering.

"I…I…I killed passengers."

She paused, only seeing Luci and the Fat Director looking at her, urging her to continue.

"I left the train in a station, as I was low on water and didn't realise until we got there. The station master gave us permission to leave the train and get water, unaware of a German Saboteur who was among them. He planted a bomb…and…and…"

She began to cry. The Fat Director and Luci realised at once what she was getting at.

"It's ok, Barbara," said Luci kindly. "I don't blame you."

"And neither do I," agreed the Fat Director. "The culprit was the German saboteur, not you. Barbara, even if you had taken the coaches with you, the bomb still would've gone off. Only two things would stop it: either the saboteur didn't go to the station or he got caught before he could sabotage. And unfortunately, neither of those happened. It was just unfortunate timing that it went off when you left the coaches."

"R-R-Really?" Barbara asked through her tears.

"Yes," said Luci and the Fat Director.

The Fat Director had more news, which he delivered once Barabra stopped crying.

"I'll be giving you some time off. You deserve it," he said kindly. "During this, I'll be having a psychiatrist come and help you."

Barbara began crying again. This time, in gratitude.

"Thank you, Sir Topham," she said.

Later, the Fat Director realised he had a problem, which he confided in Luci.

"With Barbara undergoing psychiatry, our railway will be busier than ever, and I've no spare engine available to cover her jobs."

"That's not true, what about James?" Luci asked. "Surely, he's spent enough time in the shed!"

The Fat Director had forgotten he existed.

"Dear Lord, you're right! I must speak to James at once!" And with that, he got into his car and drove away.

It had been ever since late February or early March…he couldn't remember precisely. All the Fat Director knew was that he had been neglecting one of his engines for FAR too long.

(Author's note: yes, the story about the death ray is real.