Duck

Duck is a great western engine.

## Biography

Prior to coming to the North Western Railway, Duck worked at Paddington on the Sunshine Line of the Great Western Railway. During these days, he had his own trio of slip coaches affectionately known as the "Slippies" which he used to take passengers to their destinations.

Duck worked as the station pilot at Paddington before moving to Sodor in 1955 to take over Percy's shunting duties at Tidmouth, leaving the latter free to assist with the construction of Knapford Harbour. Duck was a hard worker, but the others mistook his work ethic for simplicity and tried to use this to their advantage. They soon found their mistake when Duck and Percy took revenge on them by barring them from entering the shed. Duck earned a reprimand from the Fat Controller for this, but so did the other engines, who were told - as Duck put it - that it is the Fat Controller's railway, and as the controller, he is the one who gives the orders.

When Diesel arrived, the others took a liking to his flattery. Duck, on the other hand, was doubtful and left Diesel to his own devices, which resulted in the latter getting into a mishap with some old trucks. Duck tried to help Diesel when the trucks started to tease him but to no avail. Diesel vowed to get revenge and inspired by several incidents occurring around the yard in Duck's absence, spread rumours that Duck had given offensive nicknames to the others. Duck was sent to work as a banker for Edward at Wellsworth pending further inquiry and after bravely stopping a runaway goods train at his own risk, he regained the respect of the others. Of course, by this time the others were aware that the matter was all Diesel's fault, but Duck's heroism certainly helped.

Duck would later show Donald and Douglas around when they arrived, and they soon became friends. He also allowed Stepney to take a special visitor and helped him double-head an express train when Class 40 broke down from sucking an inspector's hat into his air-intake.

He supported Oliver when he took on S.C. Ruffey and the other trucks, and went to the Big City with the engines after they received a letter from a little girl.

One time, a double-decker bus named Bulgy tried to steal Duck's passengers but got stuck under a bridge where Duck encountered him. When his passengers realised that Bulgy lied to them by saying he was a railway bus and accepted railway tickets, Duck managed to regain his passengers and made it safely across the bridge, where he brought the passengers home in good time. Bulgy, however, was turned into a hen-house close to his line.

Although Percy left the yard went to work at the harbour, Duck often helped him. The workload eventually got too heavy for them alone, so the Fat Controller brought Diesel back to help. Duck and Percy were furious and went on strike until the Fat Controller made them work again. Diesel did not stay for long though, as he pushed some trucks into the sea and was sent away in disgrace. Duck and Percy gladly did the work alone. Sometime later, a regatta was being held at the harbour, which inspired Duck to sail to faraway lands. When a man in the regatta hurt his hand, Duck brought him to Bertie, who then took him to hospital.

Duck would later help Henry with the Flying Kipper as a banker, only to end up crashing into his rear trucks when the tail lamp fell off. He also helped Thomas and Percy triple-head the express when Gordon and Henry were unavailable.

Later, Duck was trapped at the docks with the big engines and Cranky during a storm. A tramp steamercrashed into the shed, causing it and Cranky to topple over, trapping the engines. Thomas and Percy rescued Cranky, who then rescued the other engines. Afterward, George refused to let Duck clear his train from the Main Line, resulting in Gordon crashing into it. Neither Gordon nor Duck got into trouble for this when the Fat Controller found out that George was to blame for the accident.

Duck stayed at Tidmouth Sheds, but he left in 2004 so he can be nearer to his branch line and remained at Alsbrugh West ever since

When Harold broke down at Callan Castle, Duck was asked to take him to the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre for repairs, with Thomas as his back engine. However, Thomas wanted Harold to see the sights of Sodor, so he tricked Duck into going to Knapford. After this, Duck became cross with Thomas and refused to listen to him when Thomas tried to warn him about a narrow tunnel. This ended up damaging Harold's rotor blades and earning them a scolding from Sir Topham Hatt. The two engines made up and switched places, Thomas leading them to the Rescue Centre without encountering any more tunnels. After this, Duck admitted that "The Thomas Way" was another valid way of doing things.

He once ran into a flood whilst working on his branch line and had to wait until James brought Rocky to help him. Unfortunately, Oliver and Percy ran into them due to a broken signal knocked down by Rocky's swinging crane arm and delayed Duck's rescue. During one hectic summer, the Fat Controller was not sure how to handle the number of passengers travelling on his railway. In the shed, Duck talked about the slip coaches which he had used on the Great Western Railway. The next morning, James lied to the Fat Controller and said the idea was his own, initially receiving praise only to cause trouble. Duck soon took control of the slip coaches and utilised them perfectly, with the coaches now appearing to be used year-round.

Duck helped with building the new Harwick Branch Line and was very excited yet surprised to see Donald and Douglas helping too. He later brought Rocky to lift Thomas out of the cavern that he had fallen into and sometime later attended the branch line's opening ceremony.

One day, when a storm struck the island, he and Oliver were responsible for taking people safely home. At Arlesburgh, the two met Skiff and warned him to get to safety. When Duck had finished his jobs, he headed for home with the slip coaches; however, neither they nor Oliver and Toad - who were travelling to Arlesburgh 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. Later, as in the Railway Series, his whistle got clogged after his driver boiled an egg on it. Thomas and Rex teased him, and Mike said that engines should not make such noises, as engines without whistles are "not proper engines at all". Fortunately, Duck's whistle was cleaned out later that day.

Duck, along with all of the Fat Controller's engines, wanted to go to the Great Railway Show, but he was among the many engines that were not chosen.

## Personality

Duck knows how to hold his own and tends to stand for no nonsense from any engines that might get ideas above their station and try to order him or others about; as a result of this and his strength, most tank engines look up to him. However, although he and Thomas are friends, they occasionally have not always got on well due to the latter’s cheeky antics but the two later shared a mutual respect since they ended up working together to help Haroldand have always had a great friendship with each other.

However, his moral code is not perfect and often favours fairness to kindness; he asserted to Percy that Thomas deserved his comeuppance for teasing him about being scared at the smelters. He enjoys running like clockwork, without problems or interruptions, making him a very efficient and loyal engine. He takes tremendous pride in the responsibilities bestowed upon him, particularly in his role of running his own branch line with Oliver, sometimes known as the "Little Western" as a result.

Duck is cheerful, busy, mature and tends to bustle about. He is very proud of his noble Great Western heritage, often claiming that "there are two ways of doing things: the Great Western way, or the wrong way", occasionally to the annoyance of other engines. He strongly admires City of Truro and enjoyed talking "Great Western" with him when he visited the North Western Railway. He is also shown to be kind to others, but the one engine he finds the most difficult to be kind to is Devious Diesel, especially after Diesel spread rumours about him giving nicknames to the bigger engines.

Duck is often welcoming of newcomers, even most diesels as long as they are not rude. He will often support the underdog, stick up for his friends and help others see the error of their ways. However, occasionally he does have the "Tank Engine sense" of teasing the bigger engines such as Gordon. Duck is also known to have a rivalry with James, but he has earned the respect of the bigger engines and has firm friendships with Edward, Percy, Oliver, Toad, BoCo and the Scottish twins.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Duck is based on a Great Western Railway 57xx Class 0-6-0 pannier tank engine with added sandboxes. Duck's Great Western number, 5741, was that of a real 57xx, one of the first fifty 57xx Class (Nos. [[1]]) built by the North British Locomotive Co. on 31st March 1929 and scrapped at Swindon on 31st May 1958. However, according to Sodor: Reading Between the Lines, "...through this might not, in fact, be the number with which he was allocated when built...". 863 of these engines were built by various manufacturers over a twenty-one year period, making it the most produced class of British tank engines. Sixteen of these engines survive in preservation. However in Percy the Small Engine and The Eight Famous Engines, Duck was incorrectly illustrated as a Great Western Railway 64xx Class 0-6-0 pannier tank engine. On top of that, none of the 57xx's were autofitted to work with auto coaches.

### Livery

Duck is painted in NWR apple green, unlined, with a green safety valve cover and black wheels. His number is painted on each side of his cab in yellow, upon a black background with a yellow border.

## Trivia

According to SiF's interview with Sam Barlow, Duck was originally considered to be part of the Steam Team. However, he was dropped in favour of Emily so as to give a female character a more prominent role

## Voice Actors

* Daniel Alsop (Season 2 - Season 5)

* Alexander Smith (Season 6 - Season 7)

* Tommy Bauer (Season 7 onwards)

Whistles