Duck

Montague (affectionately known as "Duck" because of his supposed waddle) is a Great Western 57xx pannier tank engine. Previously being the station pilot at Tidmouth, he now has his own branch line that runs between Tidmouth and Arlesburgh and is commonly seen working with Oliver.

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, collectively nicknamed Slippies.

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. However, his moral code is not perfect, and often favors fairness to kindness, like when he tells Percy that Thomas deserved his comeuppance at the scrapyard. He likes things to run like clockwork, without problems, or interruptions, which makes 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.

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.

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, 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 21 year period, making it the most produced class of British tank engine. 16 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.

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.
 * In the Greek dub of the first seven seasons, Duck is female and is called "Jackie". As of the seventeenth season, 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:
 * Season 2:
 * His gold handrails become white half-way through the season.
 * Season 12:
 * His face was sporadically smaller.
 * His cheekbones disappeared.
 * Season 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.
 * Season 19:
 * His handrails changed back to white.
 * Rivets on his buffer-beam and cab changed to black.
 * Season 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.