Oliver (Great Western tank engine)

## Oliver

**Fanfic:** Mr. and Mrs. Wellington (parents), Mr. and Mrs. Wilton (maternal aunt and uncle), Marianne Middleton (cousin), Flora Davidson (elder sister), Alice, Aidan, Claire and Claude Middleton (cousins, once removed), unnamed cousin-in-law (deceased), Stanley Davidson (brother-in-law), Fionnuala and Anneliese Davidson (twin nieces), Dane Middleton, Celine and Thomas Billinton (cousins-in-law)

### Friends

Thomas, Percy, James, Gordon, Edward, Henry, Emily, Rebecca, Nia, Toby, Sir Topham Hatt, Bill and Ben, Timothy, Rosie, Stanley, Ryan, Sonny, Diesel, Daisy, Salty, Porter, Paxton, Sidney, Philip, Victor, Skarloey and Rheneas, Whiff, Marion, Skiff, Hiro, Kenji, Mavis, Annie and Clarabel, Charlie, Billy, Terence, Bertie, Bulgy, Cleo, Ruth, Donald and Douglas, Cranky, Carly, Judy and Jerome, Elizabeth, George, Peter Sam, Sir Handel, Mighty Mac, Duncan, Freddie, Duke, Owen, Merrick, Harvey, Millie, Luke, Stephen, Glynn, Shane, Aubrey and Aiden, Tamika, Ace. Isla, Spencer, Henrietta, Hugo, Rocky, Harold, Flynn, Captain, Butch, Belle, Nelson, Jack, Alfie, Oliver, Max and Monty, Kelly, Byron, Ned, Isobelle, Patrick, Brenda, Buster, Darcy, Kevin, Ashima, Rajiv, Noor Jehan, Shankar, Charubala, Lorenzo, Beppe, Gina, Stefano, Ester, Gabriela, Gustavo, Raul, Marcia and Marcio, Fernando, Hank, Sam, Gator, Norman and Dennis, Hong-Mei, Yong Bao, An-An and Yin-Long, Den, Dart, Beau, Toad, Duchess, Lexi, Theo, Hurricane, Merlin, Frankie, Beresford, Caitlin, Connor, Ferdinand, Bash and Dash, Emerson, Lei, Natalie, Cassia, 'Arry and Bert, Bert, Rex, Mike**All Engines Go!:** Kana, Sandy

**Fanfic:** Ten Cents, Sunshine, Theodore, Emily, Hercules, Big Mac, Warrior, Grampus, O.J., Top Hat, Big Mickey, Sally, Boomer, Frank and Eddie, Oliver, Foduck, The Dispatcher, Izzy Gomez, Captain Star, Captain Zero, Zak, Zorran, Zebedee, Zip, Zug, Mighty Mo, Lucy, Phillip and Filmore, Hank, George

### Likes

Pulling Toad everywhere, his friends, working on the Great Western Railway

## Character's Bio

### Nicknames

Oliver the Western Engine
Oliver the Great Western Engine
Oliver the GWR Engine
Mr. Oliver (by Toad and trucks)
Sagacious (by Gordon)
Good-Gracious (by Duck)
Yah Booh Snub (by Bulgy along with Duck)
Ollie (by S.C. Ruffey and the trucks)
Little Western (by The Engines)
Great Western (by Harold)

### Birthdate

31st August 1934 (built)20th November 1958 (fanfic, as a human)

## Physical Apearance

### Species

Tank engine (books and cartoon)
Human (fanfic)

### Eye Colour

Black (books and cartoon)
Apple green (fanfic, as a human)

### Complexion

Brunswick green with yellow lining (books)
Rusty red (cartoon, before his rescue)
Apple green (cartoon, after his rescue)
Darker shade of green (cartoon, currently)
Pale (fanfic, as a human)

### Status

Alive

**Oliver** is one of *Thomas & Friends* and *The Railway Series* characters. He's a Great Western tank engine who has been saved from scrap by Douglas. His daring escape made him popular with the other engines, which perhaps made him a little overconfident. He now works on the Little Western with Duck. He has two Great Western auto-coaches, named Isabel and Dulcie and a brake van named Toad.

## Biography

### *The Railway Series*

Oliver was built by the Great Western Railway at Swindon Works and was "push-pull" fitted for branch line work. He was originally numbered in the 48xx series, but along with the rest of his class, he was renumbered into the 14xx series in 1946, eventually becoming 1436. He worked as a passenger engine on a branch line in the West Country.

Oliver reached Sodor in 1967. With the rapid closure of West of England branch lines, Oliver's crew were appalled at the prospect of their engine being scrapped or left to rust away at Barry Scrapyard. Both were bachelors with no local ties, so they determined to take a chance and try to save their engine, along with his coach Isabel and Toad the brake van. An escape route was carefully worked out with the help of a chain of sympathetic signalmen. It was necessary to travel at night - often over "goods only" lines - and lie hidden by day. They had many narrow escapes and the journey took longer than planned.

When control got wind of the runaways, they hid in an old quarry branch and had the cutting blocked by rubbish to avoid being spotted by the diesels outside. The runaways decided it was safe to leave at some point, but before they could reach the greener pastures of Sodor, Oliver ran out of coal in Barrow Yard. Luckily, Douglas was able to rescue Oliver and took him to Sodor, taking him to Crovan's Gate Works. The Fat Controller soon found out and arranged for the three to be repaired and painted in Great Western colours. Toad decided to be Douglas' brake van to thank him and the Fat Controller rescued another auto coach named Dulcie and gave her to Oliver.

Oliver was then sent to work on the Tidmouth-Arlesburgh branch line, but became conceited after the big engines gave him their respect in recognition of his adventures and pushed his weight around, prompting several ballast trucks to push him into a turntable well. Oliver received little respect from the trucks after the incident but got his own back by pulling the ringleader, S.C. Ruffey, apart. Oliver is now well-respected by the trucks, out of fear they will be pulled apart too.

### *Thomas & Friends*

Much like in the Railway Series, Oliver and Toad were escaping from scrap when Douglas found, saved and brought them to the North Western Railway. The other engines were impressed by his adventures and the attention soon went to Oliver's smokebox, which led to him being so conceited that he ignored Duck and Donald's advice about trucks and several pushed him into a turntable well. Upon his return from the Works, Oliver regained his respect after pulling the ringleader of the trucks, S.C. Ruffey, apart.

Since then, (with the exception of running Thomas' Branch Line during the engines' trip to England) Oliver has worked at Callan Yard, also known as Oliver's Yard and the trucks have feared him, considering him to be dangerous and preferring Percy. Oliver missed the long runs and wanted to do more than simply push trucks onto the turntable, but he remained tight-lipped about his problem and grew unhappy as a result. He ended up roughly biffing the trucks into the turntable well, damaging it. The Fat Controller transferred him to the mail train in an attempt to have the night air clear his smokebox, but Oliver ended up getting lost, discovering an abandoned house (which was later turned into a tea-house) in the process. When Harold found him, Oliver concluded that being found is much nicer than being lost. His brake van Toad started feeling a similar problem when he was glum about always going backwards. Oliver tried to cheer him up by reminding him of his usefulness. When the trucks broke away from Oliver on the hill, taking Toad with them, Oliver determinedly chased after the runaway through Wellsworth and Crosby and all the way to the old stone bridge. Oliver could not help teasing Toad when all was said and done and assured him no harm was done in case of Toad causing Oliver an embarrassment.

He once broke down on the Intersection and was saved by Emily when he was about to be hit by Thomas. He also complained about the snow, but later crashed into a children's snowman in the village, in which he had to spend the night in the snowman's body. However, the children later decorated him to look like the snowman which made Oliver like the snow.

Oliver started repeatedly telling everyone about his "escape" from the scrapyard, even to the point of annoying Toad. After his brake van had an adventure without him, James told Oliver to listen to Toad's story for once. During a flood, he collided with Rocky and James who were rescuing Duck, who had stalled underwater. He also nearly collided with Duck who ran a red signal by mistake. Later, he broke down whilst on his way to the docks to deliver some trucks. When Gator arrived to take the train, Oliver was surprised by his unusual shape and wondered where Gator's lamp was, unaware it was not working properly.

Oliver began to get fed up of Toad singing during their journeys and explained to Duck that Toad is always like this when he is in a good mood. Later Toad told Oliver that he saw a whale and he did not believe him at first until he saw the whale for himself. He then helped with rescuing the whale.

When the Harwick Branch Line was being built, Oliver helped with the line's construction. Marion believed that he had made a wish to turn himself into a digger and the Arlesdale engines had granted his wish. It was not until the branch line's opening ceremony that Marion discovered there was, in fact, two Olivers.

When a storm struck the Island, Oliver and Duck were responsible for taking people safely home. At Arlesburgh, the two met Skiff and warned him to get to safety, upsetting the rail boat. When he had finished his jobs, Oliver picked up Toad and headed for home. Unfortunately, neither they nor Duck (who was travelling to Tidmouth on the opposite track) were aware that a lightning strike had caused a tree to fall on the line. Thankfully, Skiff (who had been blown away by the storm) was able to warn them just in time. Oliver proclaimed him the bravest rail boat he had ever known. Another time, he found Judy and Jerome - the Breakdown Train - in Arlesburgh Harbour. He agreed to take the two to the countryside. He later informed Ryan that Duck had moved them again.

Oliver was one of the many engines who was informed about a railway show for little engines at Ulfstead Castle, Philip told him to attend, then he told Paxton to attend the railway show and was also seen in the queue of engines for said event at the castle whilst carrying a flatbed with Mike on it.

## Personality

Despite his heroism and daring feats of escape, Oliver is an engine who is willing to admit every day is a learning curve. When he was still new to Sodor, he let the other engines' responses to his courage, resource and sagacity from his amazing recounts of daring escapes and adventures get to his smokebox and he became conceited. However, when the Troublesome Trucks pushed him into the turntable well, he grew into a much humbler, settled engine and was far warier of trucks. But later, with some help from his brake van Toad, he did gain much respect and authority among the trucks when he showed his strength with the ringleader of the trucks, S.C. Ruffey, a little more than he had perhaps been intending. Oliver still has gumption but is now a more obedient, sensible engine. He feels his responsibility on the railway deeply, is ever thankful for being aided in his escape from scrap by Douglas and is a trustworthy, tenacious, plucky engine. However, he can still be occasionally boastful or temperamental; despite this setback, Oliver is still one of the more really useful and well-behaved engines on Sodor.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Oliver is based on a GWR 14xx Class 0-4-2T. These engines were fitted with a mechanical system allowing the driver to control the locomotive remotely from the cab of an 'Autocoach', such as Isabel. They were originally assigned numbers in the 48xx series but were renumbered into the 14xx series in 1946. Oliver's number comes from a real 14xx, No. 1436, which was built at Swindon Works in August 1934 as No. 4836 and worked in the West of England until it was withdrawn in October 1958. It was scrapped at Morkot Ltd., Caerphilly on the 30th of April, 1959. According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways and Sodor: Reading Between the Lines, "It is doubtful whether this (1436) was the number actually allotted to him in 1946". Four engines of this class survive in preservation.

## Physical Appearance

### Livery

In the *Railway Series*, Oliver is painted in GWR Brunswick green with yellow lining, black wheels, brass GWR number plates on the sides of his cab and a brass safety valve bonnet. Before he came to Sodor, he was painted in BR Brunswick green with a BR crest painted on the sides of his tanks. In some illustrations of the *Railway Series*, Oliver has a golden builder's plate on the side of his cab.

In the television series, Oliver's paint had faded by the time he was rescued, leaving him in a rusty red colour. After his rescue, he was painted in NWR unlined apple green with the 1934 GWR crest painted on the sides of his tanks and his number 11 painted on the sides of his cab in yellow. In between the sixth and twelfth series, he was painted in a slightly lighter shade of NWR unlined apple green. From Tale of the Brave onwards, he is painted in a slightly darker shade of green from his former green livery in between the first and fifth series. Unlike the *Railway Series*, Oliver's wheels were green in *Thomas & Friends*, presumably to distinguish him from Duck.

### Fanfic

As a human, Oliver has pale skin tone, blond hair and apple green eyes. He wears slightly lighter shade of malachite green jacket with gray lining on each lapel, white shirt, black necktie, slightly shade of malachite green trousers and black shoes.

## Fanfics

The Secret & Dearest Life of Everything in Sodor

All of the characters from Thomas & Friends, TUGS and Theodore Tugboat were appeared in the fanfic as humans. Oliver was one of the train drivers who works on the Little Western alongside Duck.