At some point during the Industrial Revolution, noise outside their cave awakens the Autobot Bumblebee. He ventures outside the cave to discover the planet's new dominant species — man, and that they have developed steam powered technology and the capacity to build railroads.
He observes some men, featuring the famous John Henry enjoying the labor of driving spikes into the ground for a new railroad. Bumblebee changes his alternate form to be a steam-powered spike driver and helps the humans who are unaware of his true robotic nature.