Air date: September 5th, 2014 (UK)
One day, Annie and Clarabel are watching the passengers getting on and off the train at Knapford station. They see a woman with a very big hat, an old man being helped into the carriage and a man they have seen before. The man is question travels up and down the branch line all day, looking through binoculars.
When Thomas and his carriages arrive at Dryaw, the man gets off and starts looking through his binoculars. The coaches are confused by his actions and Thomas says he might be a station inspector, but the coaches are sure that's not right; the man spends a lot of time examining trees. Thomas jokes that the man may be a tree inspector.
Later on, Thomas arrives back at Dryaw to pick up the passengers. Unsurprisingly, the man with the binoculars is waiting. Thomas decides to ask the man what sort of inspector he is. The man explains that he is not an inspector but a bird watcher who is looking for a very rare bird.
As Thomas puffs on his way, he suddenly gets a shock when somebody on the train pulls the emergency cable inside Annie. Thinking there is an emergency, the guard applies the coaches brakes. It's not long before Thomas grinds to a halt and the guard goes to see what the matter is. Inside Annie, the guard sees the bird watcher with his hand on the emergency cord. The man sheepishly explains that he thought he had heard the very rare bird and, in his state of excitement, pulled the emergency cord so he could get a look at it. The guard sternly informs the man that spotting a bird does not constitute an emergency on a railway. There is more trouble to come when Thomas tries to pull away. Annie has developed a wheel flat and one of her wheels won't turn at all. Annie has to be uncoupled and left behind while all of the passengers squeeze into Clarabel. Thomas is very cross about having to leave one of his beloved coaches behind and the passengers are very cross with the bird watcher, too.
When the train arrives at Knapford station, the Fat Controller is waiting and reminds the bird watcher what an emergency cable is really for. The bird watcher apologizes and promises to never pull the emergency cable for such a trivial matter again.
That evening, Thomas takes Rocky and a flatbed to collect Annie. He then takes his damaged coach to the Sodor Steamworks. Unfortunately, Victor cannot find any coach wheels to find Annie and says she will have to wait for a new delivery.
The next day, Thomas and Clarabel start to miss Annie terribly. Thomas feels very angry about having one of his coaches taken out of commission by a silly bird watcher and hopes that they never see him again. Unfortunately, Thomas does indeed see the man again. He is waiting on Dryaw station. Thomas stubbornly refuses to stop at the station. Then, as he is barely out of the station, someone pulls the emergency cord again. Then, the grumpy woman in the big hat complains that she wanted to get off at Dryaw. Thomas apologizes and has to reverse back to the platform. The lady with the big hat gets off and the bird watcher climbs aboard.
When Thomas arrives back at Knapford, it's his turn to receive a reprimand from the Fat Controller. Thomas is told that he must stop at every station regardless of the mood he is in. The Fat Controller says that he is sure the bird watcher has learned his lesson about pulling the emergency cable without good reason. Thomas apologizes and says that learned his lesson, too.
Eventually, Annie returns to work with Thomas and Clarabel and the three of them are happy once again and the bird watcher even finds his rare bird.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Character Development: Following the events of "Double Trouble" in Season 13, Thomas has learned to speak up in case someone is acting odd, which is the case of the bird watcher getting off at every station and using binoculars.
- Forgiveness: Part of the Aesop of the episode. The Fat Controller tells Thomas not to let his grudge towards the bird watcher get in the way of his job, assuring him he has learned from his mistake.
- Funny Background Event: When Thomas whistles as he is about to leave Knapford, you can see his driver wave to the stationmaster; later when the bird watcher pulls the emergency cable, you can see Thomas' fireman look out the cab window bewildered.
- Shamed by a Mob: A rather comical variant. Because some of the passengers have to go inside Clarabel, they all glared at the bird watcher for pulling the emergency cable.
