Murdoch

**Murdoch** is an orange tender engine with 10 drive wheels. He is 1 of Sodor's largest and strongest tender engines, who is somewhat shy, a gentle giant and prefers the quiet countryside to the constant noise of industry. He hauls goods trains on the Main Line and lives at Knapford Sheds.

## Bio

Murdoch was brought to relieve the engines of their heavy workloads. He was big and strong, so the other engines were eager to learn more about him. Murdoch (however) disliked the noise of their chatter and got cross with Salty and Harvey when they inquired about his past exploits. The next day, Murdoch finally had a chance to pull a train through the quiet countryside, but his journey was interrupted by a flock of sheep. Murdoch had to wait with the noisy sheep until Toby could bring the farmer to lead them away. That night, Murdoch found Salty's and Harvey's company a relief.

Murdoch was happy but shy about being decorated for the May Day festivities.

On one windy autumn day, a large red carpet landed on a goods wagon from Murdoch's goods train, unbeknownst to Murdoch. Percy briefly chased after it, until the heavy winds blew it away again.

When Whiff first arrived on Sodor, Murdoch (alongside Molly and Neville) laughed at Emily because she was showing Whiff around Sodor.

Emily once needed Murdoch's help when she became stranded in the mud and near the end Emily asked him which track should she take. Murdoch told Emily that the tracks on Gordon's Hill were being cleared and told her to take the valley route instead.

Murdoch shunted Rocky while helping Thomas recover the lost materials for the Sodor River Bridge's restoration.

## Persona

Murdoch is a mighty, powerful engine with 10 drive wheels. He is 1 of the largest engines working on Sodor and was brought to the Island to help with the heavy workload and pull heavy goods trains across the Main Line. Murdoch is as shy as he is strong, as he is actually a gentle giant. He can often be found seeking peace and quiet, away from the bustle of the yards and the Docks. He enjoys long hauls through the countryside and although he can get short of patience and a little annoyed if he does not get some alone time, he can be quite a reserved engine. Although he can be an independent worker, Murdoch is often content to join in, help and offer advice where he deems it worthy, but (despite being hard to miss due to his defining strength and size) he will not jump to put himself at the centre of attention.

## Trivia

* Murdoch along with Den and Dart are also best friends with Bulk Biceps.
* Murdoch is also best friends with Speedy McAllistair.
* Murdoch guest stars in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventure Series like some of the episodes of *Thomas' Adventures of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 4* that has Bulk Biceps in them.
* According to early concept designs of the seventh season characters, Murdoch was originally going to be a BR Standard Class 7. Also, after his 9F class was decided on, he was originally going to be maroon red with chrome yellow linings, according to Robert Gauld-Galliers' original artwork. Because Arthur was already going to be maroon with yellow linings, Murdoch's livery was changed to orange with green and red linings so that the 2 engines' colour schemes would not clash with each other.
* In his concept art, he seems to have a double chimney, which were fitted on 9Fs built from 1958 onwards.
* Murdoch shares the same whistle sound with Arthur, which itself is an LMS whistle stock sound effect.

## Gallery

Murdoch's model versionMurdoch annoyed at Knapford ShedsMurdoch in the countrysideMurdoch with Harvey and SaltyMurdoch with EmilyMurdoch with Emily and ArthurMurdoch being decoratedMurdoch passing the carnivalMurdoch and PercyMurdoch with Emily, Whiff, Molly and NevilleMurdoch in Season 12Murdoch from a distance