George Murray

Obituary
by Keith Taylor

Secretary, East Coast USA Region IBLS

From "Live Steam by Father Finelli"

It is with a very heavy heart that I must pass on the following. This past Sunday, Feb. 4th, 2001 saw the passing of one of the Live Steam hobby’s pioneers. George Murray, at age 92 succumbed to illness that had plagued him most of his adult life. While many do not remember him these days, George was the publisher of the very first all Live Steam magazine in the USA. For two years, 1950 and 1951, George wrote published and edited, single-handedly, the magazine The Live Steamer. He was an ardent modeler who had almost 100 locomotives pass through his shop. He had built entirely many locos, finished many that had been brought to him in buckets and did the final tuning and trouble shooting to countless others. His list of friends was a who’s who of the hobby. The late L.B.S.C. (L. Lawrence) was a house guest of his. Carl Purinton, the founder of the IBLS and Bill Van Brocklin were among George’s closest friends. George had written correspondence with literally hundreds all over the world. His interests included all scales from “0″ and No. 1 gauges up to 7-1/4″ gauge. He was particularly fond of the smaller gauges and was one of the few proponents of 1/2″ scale 2-1/2″ gauge right up until his death. He was engaged in building a 3/4″ scale model of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad’s 999 at his passing. I, amongst his countless friends, will miss him greatly. Another of the Icons of our hobby has left us!