Duck

Duck the Great Western Engine

Duck is a Great Western Engine

## Personality/Bio:

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, he and Thomas have not always got on well due to the latter’s cheeky antics but the two later shared a mutual respect since the two ended up working together to help Harold and have always had a great friendship with each other.

However, his moral code is not perfect and often favours fairness to kindness, like when he asserted to Percy that Thomas deserved his comeuppance for teasing him about being scared. 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:

Duck is based off the GWR 5700 Class Pannier Tank Engines. Originally Designed by Charles Collett, a staggering 863 5700's were built between 1929 and 1950. The majority of 5700's were built at the GWR's own Swindon Works, though the first 50 locomotives (5700-5749) were built by the North British Locomotive Co., in Glasgow Scotland and would go on to produce 50 additional members of the class, with additional locomotives being built by Armstrong Whitworth, W.G. Bagnall, Beyer, Peacock, and Co., Kerr Stuart, and the Yorkshire Engine Co. The 5700's (And their various sub-classes) were used for various duties including shunting, pilot work, and medium-sized goods trains across the GWR's System, and on several branch lines. Following the introduction of the Modernization Plan in 1955, and the closure of several branch lines (and the introductions of Diesel Shunters), the Panniers began to be withdrawn. Interestingly, 19 of the Panniers were sold to London Transport following withdrawal by BR for Engineering and Ballast Trains. All off the 5700 Class Panniers were withdrawn by 1966, but 3 of the London Transport Panniers would last until 1971. Happily, 16 Panniers survived into Preservation, including 10 from the London Underground and an additional 6 from the scrapyard.

Duck, for the most part, is fairly similar to his basis, though he lacks the Belpaire firebox that his basis has. Another Interesting Note is in the Railway Series (RWS), Duck's number (5741) points to him being one of the original 50 Panniers built by the North British Locomotive Co., though "Sodor: Reading Between the Lines" notes that his number may not be the one he was originally allocated with. Sadly, the real 5741 wasn't among the Panniers preserved, as it was sadly scrapped at Swindon in 1958. Coyote shares the same basis!