Oliver the Great Western Engine

Oliver is a green Great Western tank engine who works on Duck's branchline

Oliver in the TV series
In TV Series, when he arrived on Sodor after he was being saved from scrap by Douglas along with his brake van, Toad, his official North Western Railway number 11. The Great Western number worn in the books never appears. He was repainted in the livery of the Great Western Railway born in 1952 and died in 2011, although the much lighter shade of green used was olive.

Oliver is voiced in the Japanese version of the TV Series by Hikaru Midorikawa, who also voiced Zelgadis Greywords in the Slayers series, Heero Yuy in Moblie Suit Gundam Wing, and Seto Kaiba in Yu-Gi-Oh.

Origins
Oliver comes Rev. W. V. Awdry's OO scale model railway. He had bought a GWR side tank engine manufactured by Gaiety as a spare engine for his model railway.

Oliver is based on the 14xx class built by the Great Western Railway and still carries the colours of the GWR. These engines were designed to shunt and to work branch lines, and many were still working beyond the end of steam on British Railways. Several are preserved on steam railways up and down the United Kingdom, where they have proved as useful and versatile as Oliver himself.

In the biographical work The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, Rev. W. Awdry recalls seeing side tanks at work on the Great Western Railway at Box in Wiltshire, where he lived as a child. These would not have been 14xx tanks, but might have been an early influence nonetheless.

Oliver will return in CGI soon.

Counterparts

 * Sea Rogue or Boomer (TUGS)
 * Lucas (Sonic the Hedgehog)
 * Luke's Cousin Elmer (Wacky Races)
 * Gogo Dodo (Tiny Toon Adventures)
 * Baljeet (Phineas and Ferb)
 * Duke (Fanboy and Chum Chum)
 * Numbuh 1-Love (Codename: Kids Next Door)
 * Bunkey (Noddy's Toyland Adventures)