Murdoch/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Murdoch is a fictional tank engine created by Paul Larson and Robert Gauld-Galliers.

In 2003, Murdoch made his debut in the seventh series of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends in the episode, Peace and Quiet. He later appeared in the eighth, eleventh and twelfth series.

Murdoch has not appeared in the series since 2008.

In his concept art, he seems to have a double chimney, which were fitted on 9Fs built from 1958 onwards.

According to early concept art of him by Robert Gauld-Galliers, he was originally going to be painted maroon red with chrome yellow lining, but his livery was changed due to Arthur having a similar colour scheme, likely for merchandising reasons.

Murdoch is based on a BR Standard Class 9F, which were used for fast and heavy goods trains.

Gauge 1 Model
Murdoch’s model was scratch-built to run on gauge 1 track. The model was built from brass. It was painted in a matte finish.

Murdoch had a total of ten face masks, three of which were not used on-screen.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired. The controller used to move Murdoch's eyes was also shared with Stanley.

Close-Up Model
Several close-up shots of Murdoch's cab and tender was required for scenes in the seventh series, where he had to interact with close-up scale figures. The model was not complete and only the cab and tender was built.