Murdoch

**Murdoch the Heavy Goods Engine** is one of the deuteragonists of the SeventyVerse, and the seventeenth engine of the North Western Railway. However, he was the eighteenth engine purchased for the North Western Railway in the series.

## Backstory

Back in the early days of British Rail, Murdoch was a good friend of Donald and Douglas, Barry, Duchess and Hamish. Once, he was caught in the crossfire of Donald and Douglas' sibling feud, and alerted the twins of the diesels' rise in power. Later, he was chosen to fill in for the engines during the London trip. It's currently unknown how he was selected for the North Western Railway, but in the present, he now takes goods along it. He resides up at Vicarstown with Rosie, Henry, Bear and Dennis.

## Main Line crew

### Henry

Not too much is known about their relationship, but Murdoch did fill in for Henry during the London trip. Years later, they reside at Vicarstown together. Henry admitted that Murdoch isn't much of a chatter, but he is patient and willing to listen.

### Gordon

Not much is known about their relationship, but Gordon appreciated Murdoch's help during the London trip.

### James

Not much is known about their relationship, but James is grateful that Murdoch helped out on the London trip.

### Emily

Not much is known about their relationship, but Murdoch did arrive when Emily was going through a dark phase in her life. Their first meeting likely won't be a good one.

### Rebecca

Murdoch finds Rebecca to be a bit too hyperactive, but he does respect her immense kindness and open-minded attitude.

### Bear

Bear and Murdoch currently reside at Vicarstown together. Though Murdoch finds Bear to be a bit of a chatterbox, the two both agree that the big engines can get a bit huffy sometimes.

## Other relationships

### Donald and Douglas

The twins and Murdoch were old friends back in their BR days. Murdoch cautioned Douglas on the decline of steam, and was horrified to find out Douglas was almost killed when D199 took him to a scrapyard. He was happy to see the twins both on Sodor when he helped out with the London trip.

### Barry

Murdoch and Barry were old friends back in their BR days. Both shared suspicions on views on diesels, and hate D199 for almost getting Douglas scrapped. Both of them also helped out when the engines went on the London trip.

### Arthur

Not much is known about Arthur and Murdoch's relationship, but Murdoch and Arthur worked together to help out the engines on the London trip. Arthur did accidentally nearly crash into Murdoch's train. Murdoch was upset about it, and Arthur decided to tell the truth about who Clarence was.

### Hamish

Hamish and Murdoch knew each other back in their BR days. Murdoch managed to get Hamish to see what diesels were doing to the steam engines, and was very cautious.

### Duchess

Duchess and Murdoch were old friends back in their BR days. She also shares Murdoch's negative views on diesels.

## Personality

Much like Johnson, Murdoch has a strong preference for goods over passengers. He doesn't like it when things are too loud, and hates being bombarded with questions. Part of this is because he is on the spectrum, but another part is because his class was the last of the steam engines, and he doesn't like to be reminded of that. However, he is patient and willing to listen to other engines, if they speak up one at a time.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Murdoch is based on a BR Standard Class 9F with a BR1G Standard type tender, which was used for fast and heavy goods trains. The class was the last of the BR Standards and the final steam engine class built by British Railways, with the last one, "Evening Star", built in March 1960. Due to the size and shape of the class, they were given the nickname "Spaceships". "Evening Star" and eight other 9Fs are preserved. One 9F, "Black Prince" holds the record for hauling the heaviest steam-hauled train in all of England, Scotland and Wales, at 2,198 tons. "Evening Star", the very last steam locomotive built by BR, is also part of the National Collection. The engine Murdoch is based on, No. 92173, was built on the 28th of February, 1958, withdrawn on the 6th of March, 1966 and scrapped in May of the same year.

### Livery

Murdoch is painted painted orange with red and chrome yellow lining. He has smoke deflectors, on which he wears red nameplates with his name in gold. His number (17) is painted on his tender in yellow with a red outline.

## Differences from episodes

* Murdoch's old number was 92173. The '173' is a nod to him debuting in the 173rd episode of the show.
	+ In real life, this engine worked on the Eastern Region of BR, while Murdoch worked on the Scottish Region.
* Murdoch's NWR number is 17. He didn't have one in the TV show.

## Trivia

* Murdoch is autistic. Reasons behind this speculation are:
	+ Needing his space to be quiet.
	+ Being overwhelmed by too many people/engines/ect.
* The preferred voice actor for Murdoch is Phil LaMarr, who plays Carter Hall from DC Super Hero Girls.
* Murdoch was originally supposed to be painted maroon in reference to his concept art by Robert Gauld-Galliers. This was changed back to him being painted orange, however, after Rachel saw Nia and Terrence in so much orange, it would good to have Murdoch retain his orange livery too. Murdoch's maroon livery will be repurposed for another character.