Duck

Montague, affectionately known as "Duck" because of his supposed waddle, is a green pannier tank engine. Duck runs his own branch line with Oliver. He holds great pride in being Great Western and this results in him having a strong work ethic. This can, however, be a cause for friction with his colleagues, when he insists that his way is the only right way to do things.

In the Railway Series, Duck has two Great Western autocoaches named Alice and Mirabel. In the television series, he has three Great Western Slip Coaches.

Biography

The Railway Series

Duck worked 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 controller, he is the one who gives the orders.

When Diesel arrived, the others took a liking to his flattery, but Duck 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 a passenger train when the Diesel broke down from sucking an inspector's hat into his air-intake. When Peter Sam told Duck about a duke coming to Sodor, Duck tells him that all dukes have been scrapped, causing him to worry. Whether or not Peter Sam meant that it was the Duke of Sodor or the engine Duke, Duck was most likely unaware of what Peter Sam meant, but as Skarloey had put it, Duck was probably pulling Peter Sam's wheels.

Duck continued working on the Main Line until 1967. When Donald and Douglas brought in new ballast for the track, they mention that "verra wee engines" bring it down from the hills. Duck was curious about this and asks to take some trucks along the line that is later known as the Tidmouth-Arlesburgh branch line - nicknamed "The Little Western". It is there that Duck meets three small engines, Rex, Mike and Bert, who all bring in the ballast and helped restore the branch line. Duck was later asked to run it with help from Oliver and on occasion, Donald and Douglas.

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.

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.

Thomas & Friends

Duck reprises his roles from the Railway Series from when he first came to Sodor to when he developed a rivalry with Diesel and Bulgy. Duck and Percy often worked at the harbour. The workload eventually got too heavy and the Fat Controller had brought Diesel to help. Duck and Percy were furious and went on strike until the Fat Controller made them work again. When Diesel pushed some trucks into the sea, he was sent away. Duck and Percy gladly did the work alone. Duck often liked to watch the boats sail at Brendam. One day, a regatta was being held and Duck wished he could sail to faraway lands. Percy and Harold ignored Duck's remarks. When a man had hurt his hand, Duck brought him to Bertie, who would take the man to the hospital. Thanks to Bertie's remarks at Duck for flying along the rails, Duck now knew that rails could take him to as many places as water could.

Duck has had many adventures, many of which were the same as the Railway Series, such as: helping Stepney take the express to Crovan's Gate after the Diesel broke down, supporting Oliver when he took on S.C. Ruffey and the other trucks, went to the Big City with the engines after they received a letter from a little girl and tried to help Henry with getting the Flying Kipper up Gordon's Hill, but ended up crashing into it after the tail lamp fell off.

Later, Duck was trapped at the docks with the big engines and Cranky. A tramp steamer crashed into the shed causing it and Cranky to topple over while also causing the engines to be trapped underneath the shed. Luckily, Thomas and Percy rescued them. Afterwards, George refused to let Duck get his truck off the Main Line, resulting in Gordon crashing into it. Duck was spared punishment when the Fat Controller was told George was to blame for Duck not clearing the Main Line before Gordon came through.

Sometimes it appears the Fat Controller has deputised Duck at other places on the railway. He has been seen in various yards along the Main Line and Edward's Branch Line doing mostly goods work.

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. Thomas tried to warn Duck about a narrow tunnel up ahead, but Duck took no notice and ended up damaging Harold's rotor blades. After this, the two engines made up and worked together to deliver Harold to the rescue centre.

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. Duck suggested bringing slip coaches, which he had used on the Great Western Railway, to the Island. However, James lied and used the idea as his own, initially receiving praise only to cause trouble. Duck soon took control of the slip coaches and things worked out perfectly, with the coaches now appearing to be used year round. He later ran a red signal by mistake while trying to show how fast he could be and almost collided with Oliver.

Duck helped with building the new Harwick Branch Line and was very excited and surprised to see Donald and Douglas whom he had not seen for ages. 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, upsetting the rail boat. When he had finished his jobs, Duck 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 rude sounds as it makes them an improper engine.

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.

After another big storm, Harwick school was damaged. Duck searched for a suitable temporary replacement classroom for the children. He eventually found one in Dexter, an old branch line coach that had been left on a siding.

Personality

Duck is a Great Western pannier tank engine. His real name is Montague, but he is usually called Duck, which he prefers. This is said to be because he waddles, though he does not really. 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, though he has never gotten along particularly well with Thomas, until the seventeenth series episode The Thomas Way - having since been firm friends with him. However, his moral code is not perfect and often favours fairness to kindness, like when he asserted to Percy that Thomas deserved his comeuppance at the scrapyard. 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 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.

Duck is often welcoming of newcomers, even most diesels, in spite of having lies told about him by Devious Diesel not long after his arrival. 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 sand boxes. Duck's Great Western number, 5741, was that of a real 57xx, one of the first fifty 57xx Class (Nos. 5700-5749) built by the North British Locomotive Co. in 1929 and scrapped at Swindon in 1958. 863 of these engines were built by various manufacturers over a twenty-one year period, making it the most produced class of British tank engine. 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.

Duck's basis

The real 5741

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Livery

In the Railway Series, Duck is painted in GWR Brunswick green with yellow lining and black wheels, splashers and pipes. He has the letters "GWR" written on his pannier tanks in yellow and red. He had brass GWR numberplates on his cab sides (5741) along with a builder's plate on either side of his cab, as well as a brass safety valve cover. Despite his appearance on arrival, it is said in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways that he was in British Railways livery which would make sense for 1955. It is highly likely that he would have carried the Lion and Wheel insignia during this period. The Swindon trained Sir Topham Hatt soon allowed him to revert to his GWR livery though, possibly at the same time he was given above running plate sand boxes. It is worth pointing out his number plate is not necessarily the one originally assigned to him during his building.

In the television series, 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.

Appearances

Trivia

• The Rev. W. Awdry's model of Duck explains his name: when the model for Duck was purchased for Awdry's model railway, it was soon discovered that its wheels were uneven, hence giving him a "waddling" gait. He was promptly christened "Duck" by Awdry's children. The wheels were eventually replaced.
  • The model was purchased as a "spare" engine for exhibitions in 1949, seven years before Duck would make his debut in The Railway Series. It was made by Gaity Models
• In the Greek dub of the first seven series, Duck is female and is called "Jackie". As of the seventeenth series, Duck has reverted back to his original gender.
• In the French dub, prior to Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, Duck was called 'Duck' instead of 'Canard', the French word for 'Duck'. However, since Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, he is referred to by his real name.
• One of Duck's models used to be on display at Nitrogen Studios.
• Duck has sandboxes, while most of the engines of his class do not. However, they were absent in Percy the Small Engine and Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine.
• According to SiF's interview with Sam Barlow, Duck was originally considered to be part of the Steam Team, but was dropped in favour of Emily so as to give a female character a more prominent role.
• Duck went through several aesthetic changes in the television series:
  • Series 2:
    • His gold handrails become white half-way through the series.
  • Series 12:
    • His face was sporadically smaller.
    • His cheekbones disappeared.
  • Series 17:
    • He increased in size and is subsequently a lot larger than his model form.
    • His face returned to its original size permanently.
    • His cheekbones returned, though somewhat less prominent.
    • His running board was painted black, like it was in the Railway Series.
    • Brake pipes and the outlets were added on front and back buffer-beams.
    • He gained a headlamp and a tail lamp. His headlamp is now on his sandbox rather than his running board.
    • He lost the black sandboxes underneath his running board.
    • He also lost the stepladder in the middle of his running board.
    • Rivets on his buffer-beam, footplate and cab were added.
    • The stepladder underneath his cab became smaller than the one on his model form and real life basis.
    • The GWR lettering on his sides has a slightly different font and shadowing.
    • He gained black lining around his cab portholes.
    • He gained a new whistle of the same design as Thomas', but his whistle sound stayed the same.
  • Tale of the Brave:
    • His handrails changed to a darker grey.
  • Series 19:
    • His handrails changed back to white.
    • Rivets on his buffer-beam and cab changed to black.
  • Series 20:
    • His rivets on his cab changed back to green.
    • He was reduced in size.
    • He lost his buffer-beam rivets, footplate rivets and brake pipe outlets.
    • His buffers are positioned higher.
    • His right-hand front buffer is missing its base and is shorter than his left one.
    • The shadowing around his buffer-beam detail remains as it was before his resize and thus is out of place.
    • His handrails clip through the front of his tank.
    • His coupling hook base clips through his buffer-beam.
    • His tail-lamp is missing and only the shadowing of it remains.
  • Series 22:
    • The shadow effect on his buffer beams fit correctly around the buffers, brake pipe outlets and couplings.
    • His right-hand buffer regains the missing base and both buffers are now the same length.
    • His coupling hook base no longer clips through his buffer beam.
    • He regained his tail-lamp.
    • He regained his brake pipe outlets

Merchandise

References