Oliver

Oliver is a Great Western auto-tank engine who saved from scrap by Douglas. His daring escape made him popular with the other engines, which perhaps made him a little overconfident. He now works on the Little Western with Duck. He has two Great Western autocoaches, named Isabel and Dulcie, and a brake van named Toad.

Personality
Oliver escaped the dreaded scrapyards of the Mainland, mainly thanks to Douglas, but also as the result of sympathetic signalmen, luck and using "goods only" routes under cover of darkness, with some close calls along the way. Despite his previous heroism and daring feats, Oliver is an engine who is willing to admit every day is a learning curve. When he was still new to Sodor, he let the other engines' responses to his courage, resource and sagacity from his amazing recounts of daring escapes and adventures get to his smoke-box and he became conceited. However, when the Troublesome Trucks pushed him into the turntable well, he grew into a much more humble, settled engine and was far warier of trucks. But later, with some help from his brakevan Toad, he did gain much respect and authority among the trucks when he showed his strength with the ringleader of the trucks, S.C. Ruffey, a little more than he had perhaps been intending. Oliver still has gumption, but is now a more obedient, sensible engine. He feels his responsibility on the railway deeply, is ever thankful for being aided in his escape from scrap by Douglas and is a trustworthy, tenacious, plucky engine. However, he can still be occasionally boastful, or temperamental; but despite this setback, Oliver is still one of the more really useful and well-behaved engines on Sodor.

Basis
Oliver is based on a GWR 14xx Class 0-4-2T. These engines were fitted with a mechanical system allowing the driver to control the locomotive remotely from the cab of an 'Autocoach', such as Isabel. They were originally assigned numbers in the 48xx series, but were renumbered into the 14xx series in 1946. Oliver's number comes from a real 14xx, No. 1436, which was built at Swindon Works in August 1934 as No. 4836 and worked in the West of England until it was withdrawn in October 1958. It was scrapped at Morkot Ltd., Caerphilly on the 30th of April, 1959. According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways and Sodor: Reading Between the Lines, "It is doubtful whether this (1436) was the number actually allotted to him in 1946". Four engines of this class survive in preservation.

Trivia

 * Oliver is named after Oliver Wicks, who was a much respected member of Stroud Baptist Church. He was the Rev. W. Awdry's next door neighbour in Rodborough, Stroud.
 * Oliver speaks with a Cornish accent.
 * Oliver's original third season whistle sound is Gordon's at two whole steps higher in pitch, and in some episodes, he shared the same whistle sound as Edward.
 * One of Oliver's models was on display at Nitrogen Studios but is now on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum in Japan.
 * Oliver's theme first heard in the third season is a musical variation on the theme from the 1963 film, The Great Escape. It's also reminiscent to a portion of the TUGS Danger theme.
 * Ironically, Oliver’s first appearance involved him escaping from somewhere.
 * Some of Oliver's earlier merchandise had black wheels, indicating he was based off how he looked in the Railway Series. This was later fixed so it resembles how he looks like in the television series.
 * In the French version from Seasons 3 to 7, Oliver is called Olivier.
 * Oliver has had many modifications throughout the television series. These include:
 * Season 4:
 * His whistle sound changed to Duck's at a whole step lower in pitch.
 * Season 6:
 * He gained a coupling hook base.
 * Season 12:
 * He has slightly thicker eyebrows.
 * Season 18:
 * He is now painted in a brighter shade of green.
 * He has black side-rods and lamp irons.
 * He has more hand rails.
 * His boiler and cab windows are slightly smaller.
 * His back cab windows gained yellow lining to match his front windows.
 * His whistle guard became slightly taller.
 * The 'GWR' logo, his number and his trailing wheels are slightly bigger.
 * His driving wheels are slightly further away from each other.
 * His buffer-beam is significantly smaller.
 * His running board was painted black, like it was in the Railway Series and is also thicker than on his basis.
 * The frame around his coupling hook changed to black.
 * He lost his guard irons on his cab windows, the counterweights on his wheels, his middle lamp iron and the lamp iron on top of his smoke-box.
 * The four rods (one on the top currently holding his tail lamp) on the back of his coal bunker became black.
 * His smoke-box saddle is narrower.
 * His top feed has moved forward slightly.
 * He is slightly taller, but is also noticeably scaled down compared to his model form and his basis.
 * His dome is taller and thinner.
 * His funnel is thinner and less detailed compared to his model form and his basis.
 * He gained rivets on his smoke-box and on the sides of his buffer-beams.
 * He gained a permanent headlamp and tail-lamp.
 * His whistle design is the same as Thomas', but his whistle sound stayed the same. His current whistle design is also the same as Duck's current one.
 * Season 19:
 * His side-rods became grey again.
 * The rivets on the sides of his buffer-beams changed to red.
 * The frame around his coupling hook became red again.