Duncan

**Duncan the Grumpy Engine** is a narrow gauge engine and one of the secondary protagonist of the Seventyverse. He is the number six engine of the Skarloey Railway.

### Backstory

Duncan originally worked at Dalby and Sons factory which was due to close down. Luckily for Duncan, the Skarloey Railway needed an extra engine after Peter Sam's accident at the incline. So Duncan was purchased and arrived on the Skarloey Railway just before Skarloey returned.

## Relationships

### Skarloey

Skarloey had to push Duncan's train all the way back to the sheds twice. He wasn't too happy about this, and often has to put Duncan in his place.

### Rheneas

Rheneas and Duncan couldn't be anymore opposite. Rheneas is respectful to the passengers and polite, but Duncan is grumpy and used to not care for them. Things became frustrating when they were both painted yellow and everyone mixed them up. It got to a point where they were eventually both painted in each other's colours.

### Sir Handel

Sir Handel and Duncan often butt smokeboxes due to their impulsive and grumpy attitudes. They were also on opposite ends on how they viewed Rusty - by the time Duncan came, the little diesel won Sir Handel over. Thankfully, that's no longer an issue, but they still have lots of other disagreements.

### Peter Sam

Poor Peter Sam often falls victim to Duncan's teasing such as when his funnel was temporarily replaced with a drain pipe and when Peter Sam had trouble with some brambles.

### Rusty

Although Rusty and Duncan got at first, there was a brief rift when James told Duncan about the trouble Diesel caused. Things were patched up, however after Duncan derailed at a bad section of track and Rusty came to his rescue.

## Personality

Because of his time in the factory, Duncan is grumpy, rude and rough. As such, he has a tendency to complain when things don't go his way. He is also the first to tease the other engines when they have some sort of misfortune happen to them. Despite these faults, Duncan has a good heart and will help the others when need be.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Duncan is based on the Talyllyn Railway's Douglas, an Andrew Barclay "E" or "Light" Class 0-4-0WT. Between 2000 and 2007, Douglas was repainted as Duncan, complete with blue lining and name painted on the boiler, for special events associated with the franchise, known as "Duncan Days", After Douglas returned to service in 2013 he was repainted into a different red livery but still dressed up as Duncan for special events until 2015. Since 2016, Edward Thomas has performed this duty, dressed as Peter Sam. Several other engines of this class are also preserved. Douglas was built in 1918, while Duncan was built in 1928.

### Livery

Originally, Duncan was painted yellow with black lining and gold boiler bands. After a repaint during the series 6-7, Duncan is painted golden yellow - as of the switch to CGI (his overhaul before the events of *Two Yellow Engines*) however, the lining on his cab is unpainted. He also has a brass (originally black) nameplate on the side of his boiler and a black number plate on the side of his coal bunkers. According to *Skarloey the Little Old Engine*, Duncan was originally painted grey before coming to Sodor.

## Differences between the books, TV show and series

* In the books, Duncan was painted red. In the TV show and this series, he is painted golden yellow. Before he was yellow in this series, Duncan was grey. According to *The Big Book of Engines*, Duncan was red before he came to Sodor in the TV show.
* In the books and TV shows, Duncan's arrival is never shown - just mentioned. Here, Duncan is bought to the Skarloey Railway by James.
* More of Duncan's past will be uncovered in this series, while the books briefly talk about it and the TV series skips over the fact Duncan worked in a factory.