Duke

"That would never suit His Grace!"

Duke, Granpuff

    Duke the Lost Engine

Duke, named after the Duke of Sodor and originally The Duke, is considered a hero amongst the engines.

Bio in the Railway Series
Duke was built at Boston Lodge in 1879.. Four similar locomotives were built for the Ffestiniog Railway. Duke was gauged to 2ft 3in and transported to Sodor for the opening of the Mid Sodor Railway. Duke was also named after the Duke of Sodor as a request after delivery. He worked there alongside Sir Handel and Peter Sam (then known as Falcon and Stuart respectively) until 1947, at which time the line closed and Duke was sheeted and sheltered in Arlesdale Sheds. He was later discovered by Fergus Duncan, the Reverend Teddy Boston and the Reverend W. Awdry in 1969 and taken by road and rail to Crovan's Gate, where he was restored and returned to service in 1984.

Bio in the Television series
According to Thomas, Duke lived on an unnamed narrow gauge railway (most likely the Mid Sodor Railway) with Falcon, Stuart and, briefly, Smudger, until the line went bankrupt and most of the engines were sold. Duke, however, was sheeted until a group of adventurers found his shed, buried under tons of soil. Skarloey and Rheneas took him back to the Skarloey Railway, where he was soon returned to service.

Persona
Duke, when one first meets him, appears to be pedantic and strict, and in a sense both are true about him. However, Duke was sheeted up in a shed for more than two decades, so Duke possibly did not know how things have changed. Duke is wise from experience, and sees it as his duty to live upto his name's reputation.

Livery
Duke is painted brown (light shade) with yellow lining. He had "The Duke" written on his sides and "MS" written on his tender (as seen on the Rev. W. Awdry's model layout of Mid-Sodor). He has two red plaques on either side of his saddle tank with his name "Duke" written in gold.

Appearances
Duke's Railway Series appearances are listed below, in chronological order:
 * "Duke the Lost Engine"
 * "Great Little Engines"
 * "New Little Engine" (non-speaking role)

Duke was introduced in the fourth season, but this is the only season in which he was featured in so far. He did make an appearance in the seventh season, but this was from stock-footage. His model was used for Bertram in the fifth season. He will be seen again in Season 13.

Basis
The story of Duke was based upon a true story about an engine abandoned in the Brazilian rainforest. Duke himself is based on "Prince", a tender engine from the Ffestiniog Railway at Porthmadog, North Wales.

Trivia

 * Duke is the first steam engine to not have buffers.
 * The following stories after "Sleeping Beauty" in Season 4 feature Duke on the Skarloey Railway, though he is never mentioned, or even spoke for the rest of the season.
 * Duke was Engine Number 1 on the Mid Sodor Railway. On the Skarloey Railway, he is most likely engine number 8 based upon the events in the Railway Series.
 * Duke had first being seen in the small-scale model form in Season 4. He was never being seen amongst the large-scale narrow gauge engines introduced in Season 5 until Season 13.

Merchandise

 * ERTL model
 * LC Wooden model (retired, then re-released)
 * Take-Along model (Coming 2009)
 * TOMY/Trackmaster model (Coming soon)