Salty

Salty is a battered old diesel who works at Brendam docks. He loves the sea more than anything, and has a fund of sea stories and shanties. Bill and Ben did not want to hear his stories at first, but now they enjoy hearing these tales, but Cranky the Crane is not so fond of them.

Apart from the yellow-and-black "hazard" stripes, on his front and rear, Salty is mostly painted crimson, and carries the number 2991. He speaks with a West Country accent and uses a lot of nautical slang. Salty works well with trucks, but how he manages to keep them in order is a closely-guarded secret. He is also one of the few diesels who has no quarrel whatsoever with steam engines.

Salty is based on a British Rail Class 07 dock shunter, no D2991 still in use at Eastleigh Works in Hampshire. He first appeared in Season 6, and has appeared intermittently since.