Salty is a dockyard shunter diesel. Salty was introduced in Plarail form in May 2003, not long after his first appearance in the Thomas & Friends television series aired in Japan in December 2002.
On May 29th, 2003 Salty was released as T-17プラレールソルティー T-17 Plarail Salty in T series packaging. The box shown above is the original 2003 print run as signified by the ST-3 mark on the rear.
Salty is nicely detailed with molded vents and other details, a few of which have been picked out in silver, and has wasp stripes and other markings all the way around. Included in the pack are two black troublesome trucks with crate loads, both of which were new in this pack.
Salty uses the flat-type AA gearbox and has rather small front wheels similar to Lady. This example dates to November 2004.
The troublesome trucks in this pack are the "happy" and "laughing" types. The crate loads come in two sizes and have a reinforced underside.
In 2004 Salty began being exported to Europe in blue Thomas Motor Road & Rail packaging. A new European box style was adopted in 2005, and Salty was also exported to the United States in Toys R Us three-pack packaging in 2005. Salty was also included in the 2008 U.K. Tomy TrackMaster range.
In 2004 a Salty Value Pack was released in plastic hanging packaging containing Salty, the two black troublesome trucks (without cargo loads), and a Sodor Fuel tanker.
In 2005 Salty was released with two half straight rails in the United States.