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+ | It is Bank Holiday, and Duck meets a left-wing doubledecker bus who is determined to scrap all railways. Oliver tells Duck that he should not be taken seriously and nicknames him Bulgy, but is worried when Bulgy's friend arrives, leaving Bulgy to take their passengers with the promise of a faster way home and the lie that he accepts railway tickets. Duck is crossly puffing home when he is stopped by a bridge where Bulgy has wedged underneath. Duck carefully makes it across, and takes the passengers home. In the end, Bulgy ends up staying under the bridge until it is mended, but continues to lie, and eventually is turned into a henhouse. |
==Characters== |
==Characters== |
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Revision as of 21:44, 25 March 2020
| This article is about the book. You may be looking for the steam engine, the excavator, the 1997 magazine story, the 1998 magazine story, the Story Library book or the Engine Adventures book. |
- “As I thought. Rotten wood, rusty frames. Unserviceable before it came. Don't tell the trucks that; bad for discipline.”
- ― The Fat Controller
Oliver the Western Engine is the twenty-fourth book of the Railway Series.
Foreword
Dear M.,
We both wanted to call this book Little Western Engines; but Publishers are stern men. They did not approve.
They, of course, don't know the trouble we've had with Oliver. We hope he has learnt sense, but goodness knows what will happen when he finds he has a book all to himself....
I know! If Oliver gets uppish, we'll set Messrs. Kaye & Ward on to him. That'll teach him!
W.
Stories
Donald's Duck
The Fat Controller re-opens the Arlesburgh branch and asks Duck to run it for him. Duck is proud, and one night talks so much about his responsibility that Donald, at the end of his tether, makes quacking noises and says Duck's laid an egg. Duck, furious, makes a plan to get revenge, and his crew put a duckling in Donald's watertank. She pops out the next day at the water tower, and Donald realises it was Duck's pay-back. The duck is tame, and rides with Donald for a fair while, until she gets off at Haultraugh. Donald and his crew, plotting a last ploy, place a nestbox with an egg in it behind Duck's bunker. Duck acknowledges defeat, and nowadays the duck lives happily at Haultraugh.
Resource and Sagacity
After Oliver was rescued, he and Isabel were repainted in Great Western colours, joined by another coach called Dulcie, who was also rescued, and start working on the Arlesburgh branch. The big engines are amazed at Oliver's adventures, and say approving things to him, making him over-confident from flattery, but Oliver meets his match after a load of disgruntled ballast trucks push him into the turntable well. After Duck, the Scottish Twins and the Fat Controller speak to him sternly, he is left feeling very silly.
Toad Stands By
After Oliver is mended, the trucks, led by a wagon named S.C. Ruffey, sing a rude song about him. The others try to get them to shut up, but no avail. Toad makes a plan and asks Douglas if he can share it with Oliver. Duck is apprehensive at first, but Oliver feels he must make things right, and so it is arranged. Oliver lines the worst trucks up, with guidance from Toad, and starts. S.C. Ruffey, who is at the front, tells the others to hold back, and they do, but Oliver is so determined that he abruptly tears S.C. Ruffey apart. Although the Fat Controller attributes it to S.C. Ruffey's poor condition, he tells Oliver to keep it quiet. It is for a good reason, too, because the trucks are now so afraid Oliver will pull them apart that they never trouble him again.
Bulgy
It is Bank Holiday, and Duck meets a left-wing doubledecker bus who is determined to scrap all railways. Oliver tells Duck that he should not be taken seriously and nicknames him Bulgy, but is worried when Bulgy's friend arrives, leaving Bulgy to take their passengers with the promise of a faster way home and the lie that he accepts railway tickets. Duck is crossly puffing home when he is stopped by a bridge where Bulgy has wedged underneath. Duck carefully makes it across, and takes the passengers home. In the end, Bulgy ends up staying under the bridge until it is mended, but continues to lie, and eventually is turned into a henhouse.
Characters
Donald's Duck
- Duck
- Donald
- The Fat Controller (not seen)
- Douglas (does not speak)
- Mike (does not speak)
- Alice and Mirabel (do not speak)
- Troublesome Trucks (cameos)
- Bert (not named; mentioned)
- Rex (not named; mentioned)
Resource and Sagacity
- Henry
- Gordon
- James
- Oliver
- Isabel and Dulcie
- Troublesome Trucks
- The Fat Controller
- Duck (not seen)
- Donald and Douglas (only one speaks)
- Toad (does not speak)
- Bert (cameo)
- Mike (cameo)
Toad Stands By
- Duck
- Douglas
- Oliver
- Toad
- S.C. Ruffey
- Troublesome Trucks
- The Fat Controller
- Alice and Mirabel (cameo)
- Fred Pelhay (cameo)
- U.L.P. (Banana Van; cameo)
- Stepney (mentioned)
Bulgy
- Duck
- Oliver
- Alice and Mirabel
- Bulgy
- Bert (does not speak)
- Rex (does not speak)
- Isabel and Dulcie (cameo)
- Donald and Douglas (mentioned)
- Bulgy's Friend (mentioned)
- The Fat Controller (mentioned)
- Mike (not named; mentioned)
Locations
Donald's Duck
- Faarkey-Y-Sudragh
- Arlesburgh West
- Arlesburgh Shed
- Haultraugh
- Dilly's Pond
- Arlesburgh Harbour (mentioned)
Resource and Sagacity
- The Works
- Tidmouth Sheds
- Faarkey-Y-Sudragh
- Arlesburgh West
- Arlesburgh Works
- Tidmouth (mentioned)
- British Railways (mentioned)
Toad Stands By
Bulgy
- Arlesburgh West
- Arlesburgh Works
- Arlesburgh Shed
- Haultraugh
- Bulgy's Bridge
- Bulgy's Field
- Tidmouth (mentioned)
Trivia
- The Rev. W. Awdry wanted to name this book Little Western Engines, but the publishers insisted on having an engine's name in the title. In the foreword, Awdry joked that if Oliver started to get conceited, he would set the publishers onto him.
- The name of the first story, Donald's Duck, is a reference to the Disney character Donald Duck.
- "M." to whom the foreword was addressed to, is Margaret Awdry, the Rev. W. Awdry's late wife.
- This marks Toad, Isabel, Alice and Mirabel's last appearance in the Railway Series and Dulcie's only. This is also Oliver's last speaking role and Toad's only speaking role in the Railway Series.
- Oliver's accident in Resource and Sagacity was based on a real life event where a Lancashire and Yorkshire 2-4-2T tank engine from the London Midland and Scottish Railway also fell backwards into a turntable well.
- The first illustration in Donald's Duck is based upon the Cambrian Coast railway line.
- The events of this book took place in 1968.
- Bulgy is based on a real event in Lewes High Street in 1962 from The Evening Standard.
- In the Korean version of the book, the lettering on Bulgy's "anti-rail league" sign is removed, while the "railway bus" sign is translated into Korean.
- Strangely, despite "railway bus" being translated into Korean, his "free the roads" sign remains written in English.
Goofs
- Haultraugh is misspelt "Haultreath" in Bulgy.
- In the fourth illustration of Resource and Sagacity, Mike is missing his side rods.
- In the second illustration of Bulgy, Rex is incorrectly drawn as a 4-8-0 and Bert is incorrectly drawn as an 0-8-0; they are also both missing 'Arlesdale' on their tenders.
- Near the end of the book, the American term "Conductor" is used instead of "Guard", although it may be referring to the bus conductor.
In Other Languages
| Language | Title |
|---|---|
| Japanese | 機関車オリバー |