Gazelle was clearly used for inspection at a very early date and is seen in several photos prior to the start of re-construction. At that stage it was still a 2-2-2WT and its long-term use as Criggion passenger engine, and probably reconstruction as a 0-4-2WT, was foreseen from the start. However when and where the work was carried out is a mystery. It may have been carried out in 1911 or 1912 but the first hard evidence is a report in the July 1913 Locomotive. This combined with its return with its new wheel arrangement in the 1913 statutory returns suggests that the changes, which probably included the passenger cabin and cab, were made in that year. As can be seen on the locomotive today this reconstruction was quite simple, if ingenious. As Allan Baker said in a letter to ‘Railway Bylines’ for April 2004 the reconstruction was highly unlikely to have been carried out by Bagnalls, as frequently reported, and there is no record of such work. The work was probably done at Kinnerley. The new driving wheels in particular are one piece castings from a pattern that was clearly made from the carrying wheels. Apart from the new connecting rods and new patch plates on the motion plate the only other changes were minor ones to brake hangers, springs etc. Thereafter she was employed on some of the Criggion passenger services till the late 1920s. A reconstructed working diagram for winter 1927/28 drawn by Stuart Pierce Higgins shows that it undertook one round trip Kinnerley to Criggion, each day.

Hecate’s early origins on the St Helens, LNW and the Bristol Port and Pier Railways and have been subject to accurate research by the RCTS. Its acquisition by the SMR was well documented in The Locomotive in 1922 probably with Stephens active involvement. That gives its arrival date as May 1911 (after opening) and it was reported in a noe by F E Fox Davies in that month that its arrival was delayed. It was certainly booked in for overhual at Bagnalls of Stafford in that month which would have been of uncertain duration. However both it and its number are mentioned in R E Davies’ article on the reopening in Transport and Travel Monthly for June 1911. It then spent its active life on mixed and quarry trains on the Criggion branch till set aside in the early 1920s. According to The Locomotive article the engine was renamed Severn during 1916.

The 0-6-2Ts were ordered before May 1910 but were certainty not at work before late summer 1911 and seem to have been regarded as SMR stock till at least 1915 as they are both reported in that years annual return. Thisbe was involved in a serious derailment in late July 1915 that was extensively reported and photographed. Sale to the Military railways probably took place in 1916. An advert for two locomotives of this description appeared in the Machinery Market Magazine for 11 February 1916. Further there is reference in a GWR report dated 9 June 1916 that two engines purchased by the War office from the S&MR were being overhauled at Wolverhampton Works. Although The Locomotive for November 1916 reports that their sale had been ‘lately made’ this was a report made under wartime conditions. They seem first to have worked on the Cannock Chase Military Railway but may have then moved to the Kinmell Camp railway that opened for traffic in November 1916. Thisbe moved on to the Longmoor railway in the same year. Another odd thing about these engines is that there is no trace of sale proceeds in the SMR's published accounts and their departure coincides with a final settlement (after many years) of the SMRs account with Stephens as the Contractor for rebuilding and equipping the line. Hawthorn, Leslie received £1725 worth of company debentures on 5th March 1912 presumably in part payment for these engines but what arrangements were made for the balance is not known. Stephens’ final payment was for less than the contracted cost and the adjustment could be in respect of these two engines. They might therefore even have been at least in part Stephens personal property when sold to the Military.

By the end of WW1 the railway seemed to have achieved stability in its locomotive policy with three Ilfracombe Goods and the Severn as the backbone of services. In the early 1920s however Stephens seems unable to resist the bargains on offer from the Military and swept three of his favourite engines, Stroudley Terriers, into the net. One came in 1921 and two in 1923. Their acquisition seems accurately documented by Bradley. Although some commentators seem to think they were little used there is no real evidence of this. Although they could clearly not handle heavy mixed trains or goods and were supplanted on the passenger services by the railcars they seem to have found a niche for a few years in the 1920s.

Strange to see such distinguished representatives from a bankrupt railway viewing such a sophisticated railcar; or were they looking at one of the smaller AW jobs and joined in the jolly. Perhaps it was an early foray by newcomers into modernising the railway with diesels before economic reality struck home.

Back in May 1931 Austen was authorised to scrap three more engines and in July he reported that five engines would be scrapped, Nos. 2 and 5 (again), 6, 7 (already dismantled) and 8 (her reconditioning the previous year was thus of very limited use). The directors were no doubt impressed and double-reporting achievements are clearly nothing new. Austen was kept under pressure though and seems to have been required to report monthly. By November (when Stephens death was noted with great regret) he reported that 5 and 7 (again) were broken up and 2 and 8 in the process. In January he reported 5, 7 and 8 had gone, with 2 and No 5’s (iv) tender still remaining. No 2 was reported as still being broken up in October 1932. It was finally dismantled in May 1933. This seems to have settled directors minds but much of the scrap had not in fact gone as on 17 October 1933 the sale was reported of the Boilers of Nos. 2, 6 (iv), 7 and 8 to G R Jackson of Wednesbury for £100. The sale on 21 February 1937 of the partially dismantled remains of No 6 Thisbe (which had received No 3s boiler probably between July 1930 and November 1931) for £136/9/9 was reported. It was broken up on site in May.

With two Terriers withdrawn in 1931, the last, No 9 Daphne, was officially withdrawn in 1932 but lingered on intact in Kinnerley shed until bought in January 1939 by the Southern. Reported by Bradley as purchased for spares it does not seem to have been touched until scrapped in 1949. Daphne was an A1 in original condition and for some reason had been kept in a shed and well preserved by the SMR. Was it kept by Austen as a keepsake and intended for the Southern’s Eastleigh museum collection, only for that collection to be abandoned in 1940 when it was put out to grass? Boxhill later became the officially preserved Terrier.

The first two Coal Engines having proven their general utility one were successfully trialled on the Criggion branch on 28 June 1931 following considerable renewal of the permanent way in that year. The branches poor bridges stood the extra weight so the directors then decided to purchase a third (8236) but this did not arrive until 21 June 1932 for £375. This proved over optimistic. Unfortunately the government in those days of pre-Keynesian economics was cutting back on road building and by the end of that year the Criggion quarry traffic had collapsed. This was the end of the limited prosperity the line had enjoyed and it struggled on until Wartime when the line was to be transformed in the national interest.