Salty (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
Salty is a fictional standard gauge diesel locomotive created by writer Robin Kingsland, artist Robert Gauld-Galliers and producer Phil Fehrle.

Salty first appeared in the sixth series episode Salty's Secret, which first aired in 2002. His last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode Thomas' Animal Friends, which was released in 2021.

Voice
Since his return in 2010, Salty has been voiced by Keith Wickham in both the British English and American English dubs of the series.

Gauge 1 model
Salty's model is designed after the British Railways Class 07. It was built to approximately 1/32 scale and designed to run on gauge 1 track. The model was made out of perspex and styrene, and the roof was made of brass.

Salty has had modifications throughout the model era. These include:
 * Series 7:
 * His horn sound changed.
 * Series 8:
 * His horn sound changed again to Derek's, but at two steps higher-pitched.
 * Series 9:
 * His horn sound changed back to how it sounded in the seventh series.
 * Series 10:
 * In Toby's Afternoon Off, his horn sound changed again, this time to the same horn sound Bert used in Percy's New Whistle, (excluding Thomas and the Treasure and the Learning Segment, Which Job Makes Salty Happiest? that he regained his eighth series horn sound).
 * Series 11:
 * His horn sound changed back to how it sounded in Toby's Afternoon Off.

Present Day
After production of the model series wrapped in 2008, most of the models and sets would be put into storage, with some being put on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park. All other models would be logged and referenced in 2009 by HiT Entertainment, from this HiT would decide on which models were to enter storage once again, which would be given to crew members and which to be disposed off. Due to only having one model made in gauge 1 scale, Salty's model would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

Salty's model used to be on display in Canada at Nitrogen Studios and wore a duplicate cast of his smiling face. The model was then returned to storage after Nitrogen left the series. The model has been discussed as a possible candidate to be put on display Drayton Manor Theme Park in 2023 by employees Although it will not be running.

Faces
Twelve different facial expressions were sculpted for Salty, although only ten were used on-screen and two of which angry and sleeping were left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay, and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Two of Salty's faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. Salty’s smiling face is now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. One production-made mould of Salty's happy face was sold from The Prop Store.

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.

Fonts
The following fonts are used on Salty's Gauge 1 model:
 * Helvetica Bold

Close-up model
A close-up model of Salty was built in the eighth series by model maker, Chris Lloyd for scenes where Salty had to interact with the close-up scale figures. The model was not complete, and only the top half of Salty was built.

Working wheels and coupling rods were later added in the ninth series. However, it lacked a front bufferbeam, and the front of the chassis was painted yellow to resemble a bufferbeam.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Salty was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Salty's Gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Satly has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include:
 * Misty Island Rescue:
 * His cap brim became shorter.
 * He gained a permanent tail-lamp.
 * His buffers became less rusty and weathered.
 * His face became larger.
 * Day of the Diesels:
 * His horn sound changed again and now reuses Derek's horn sound, but at regular pitch.
 * Tale of the Brave:
 * He gained a permanent lamp.
 * Series 19:
 * His cap brim became longer again.

Texture variants
In addition to his standard livery, several other texture variants exist of Salty's CGI model. These texture variants include:

Fonts
The following fonts are used on Salty's CGI model:
 * Arial Bold

Voice Actors

 * Keith Wickham
 * Rob Rackstraw
 * Walter Wigand
 * Erik Schäffler
 * Carlos Goldberg
 * Christian Greger Strøm
 * Simen Sand
 * Michel Lasorne
 * Bernard Demory
 * Naoki Tatsuta
 * Ryuzou Ishino
 * Jarosław Domin
 * Zbigniew Konopka
 * Jorge Santos
 * Danny Houtkooper
 * Paul Disbergen
 * Gadi Levy
 * Dor Srugo
 * Francisco Bretas
 * Jorge Teixeira
 * Rafael de la Rica
 * Gaetano Lizzio
 * Ole Møller
 * Denis Bespaliy
 * Pasi Ruohonen