Arthur is a large maroon tank engine seen in a few episodes of the later model-series Thomas and Friends television show.
Arthur was first released as T-23 プラレールアーサー T-23 Plarail Arthur in T series packaging with a Troublesome Truck on February 27, 2005. The box shown here was produced in January 2005 and is likely part of the initial production run of Arthurs.
Arthur has a longer chassis than some other Thomas-series tank engines and has nice molded and painted details. The three-pack includes a troublesome truck with fish loads and a van, referencing his time working on the line to the fishing village on Sodor.
The troublesome truck has a sad face and two removable fish cargo loads.
Arthur uses the Thomas-type gearbox with a screw at the back of the chassis holding the body shell on.
In 2005 Arthur was exported to Europe in blue Thomas Motor Road & Rail packaging. Arthur also appeared in the U.K. Tomy TrackMaster range. These releases continued to include the truck with fish load and van.
Beginning in 2005 Arthur was sold in the United States with two half straight rails.
The tooling was updated with additional CE and do-not-dispose marks by later 2005.