It began on the 10th of June. The passengers were talking about the two men who were climbing mount Everest. They'd made national headlines two days ago, stating they were close to the top. Many speculated they'd done it, while more pessimistic passengers said the two had died.
A boy waited with his family to board the Wild Nor Wester when he spotted something hanging from the station ceiling.
"Mummy! What's that?" he asked. His mother took a look at where her son was pointing. The object resembled a bag.
"That, Willy, is something you shouldn't touch," she said. This only piqued the boy's curiosity. He grabbed a stone, and threw it at the object.
His mother soon realised what would happen, so she ran out of the station, with her son in hand.
Sure enough, something came out of the object. It was small and yellow, with black stripes. What the boy had hit was a wasp nest.
Seconds later, more swarmed out. It wasn't long before they began flying around the station, staying near their nest at first. Then, they began to attack. Alarms were shouted as people began evacuating. A poor woman was swarmed, and stung all over.
The Fat Director watched from his office. It was locked, which he considered fortunate. All the same, he couldn't just sit by and let the wasps terrorise the passengers. Something needed to be done.
Once all passengers had been evacuated, the first thing that happened was to close the station. All trains were ordered to stop at Knapford or Haultraugh, depending on what line they were on, until the problem was handled.
Unfortunately, in all the commotion, they forgot to inform Gordon, which meant he was most angry when he arrived and found no coaches in the platform.
"Where are my coaches?!" he demanded "I can't pull my express without coaches! I swear to Gresley, when I find Timmy…" A buzzing stopped him from finishing his sentence.
"What on Earth is that annoying noise?" he asked his driver.
"I think," said his driver in alarm, "there are wasps."
As he said this, a wasp landed on the A0's face. Gordon screamed and wheeshed steam! Suddenly, more wasps began surrounding the cab.
"Get away!" called the fireman, swatting at them with his shovel. The driver, panicking, opened the regulator. Gordon responded with a will and shot forwards away from the station! Not before he got stung, however. When he got to the sheds, the other engines were about to laugh.
"Wasps are no laughing matter!" the Fat Director scolded. "Until we get rid of these wasps, no trains will be stopping at Tidmouth."
"Yes sir," said the engines.
"How will you take care of the wasps?" asked James.
"I'll be calling in a pest control team," the Fat Director answered. "Afterwards, we shall conduct inspections on all stations, make sure they haven't been infested."
Hours passed, and the complaints began to flood in. As it turned out, the two platforms at Knapford couldn't hold as many trains as Tidmouth, and it wasn't long before the platforms got crowded. So much so, some passengers nearly fell onto the line! Trains also had to be reduced in order to accommodate the two platforms. All these complaints were giving the Fat Director a big headache, but he knew nothing could be done until the wasps were gone.
The first attempt to kill the wasps didn't work: attempting to smoke them to death proved to be somehow ineffective, even though wasps usually flee from smoke.
The engines repeatedly discussed the issue. Especially Gordon.
"Why should wasps stop me from making it all the way to Tidmouth?" he asked Thomas. "I'm a big strong engine, I can easily take on a swarm of wasps." While tempted to tease him, the E2 decided against it, knowing wasps were no laughing matter.
"Gordon, a woman got sent to the hospital," said Thomas. "One wasp may not be a problem, but too many and you're screwed."
"Pah! We're made of metal, little Thomas!" scoffed Gordon. "No wasp can hurt you or I."
"What about us?" asked Gordon's driver. "We aren't made of metal."
"Eh…"
Under pressure from the Fat Director, a new solution was thought of: bring frogs, since those hunted wasps. Long story short, there was now a frog infestation. The Fat Director was not amused with the pest control team.
"When I hired you, I was told you were the best. All I'm seeing so far is a bunch of stupidity."
"It wasn't our fault the smoke failed to work!" snapped one of the men.
"And you thought frogs would be better?! Now we have two pests in this station which means a reopening will take even longer!"
"Well, what was your idea?"
"Spraying pesticides! Much better than letting frogs loose everywhere!"
"Relax! Frogs don't last long out of water anyway," snorted another worker. But the frogs DID last long, and before long, they had become another nuisance instead of helping. It seemed the wasps were smart too: they stayed near their nest, never even getting close to the frogs.
And when it seemed the matter couldn't get any worse, it did. A photographer for the Tidmouth Informant sneaked into the station. He began taking photos of everything, until he got caught by one of the exterminators. But it was too late: he made his escape and the NWR featured in the front page of the morning's newspaper.
The Fat Director was beside himself with fury. This was the last thing they needed. The exterminators were now working harder than ever, trying the pesticides as suggested by the Fat Director. In those days, pesticides were not very effective, so the job took longer than anticipated, and crowding at Knapford Junction was getting worse.
Finally, a week after the wasps first appeared, the exterminators had some good news, and some bad news.
"Which is the good news?" asked the Fat Director.
"We got rid of the frogs. Put them back home. Well, those that survived," said the leader of the pest control.
"What about the wasps?" asked the Fat Director.
"Killed most. But we can't get close to the nest."
"And why not?"
"The wasps were too protective," the man answered. "They kept attacking us."
The Fat Director began arguing with them. However, they were interrupted by a whistle. James came steaming in, his brakes struggling to grip the rails: it had rained earlier, and it seemed he was out of sand. James ended up stopping in the fourth platform.
"Sorry sir, trouble getting a grip," said James. "I think I ran out of sand before I got to Knapford."
"Well," said the Fat Director, "at least you weren't taking passengers."
James tried to answer, but sneezed instead. The ash flying out of his funnel hit the nest, setting it alight. As it burned, a swarm of wasps came flying out.
Everyone braced for an attack, but it never happened. Instead, the wasps, confused and unsure of what had happened, flew away from the station. Everyone could only stare in surprise.
It seemed the problem was finally solved.
"Well done, James," said the Fat Director.
"No problem…I think," James replied with a smile.
It was discovered that the wasps had arrived thanks to someone leaving food unattended for too long. Thus, allowing the queen to set up a nest, unseen for months.
As this incident ended, the Fat Director began to think highly of James… Perhaps…
