[2][3] They were fitted with an ornate Rogers-styled wooden cab with Gothic windows, and an extended smokebox crowned with a copper-capped funnel.

It was intended that the locomotives would be restored by the Hooterville Charitable Trust at Waitara, but this later fell through and Bachelor moved the remnants to his property in Ashhurst.

In 2009, the parts of the four Vs, along with a boiler found during the Kai Iwi deviation construction, were donated to the Feilding and District Steam Rail Society.

In 2018 the remains of two V class locomotives were investigated at Mararoa Junction with a view to recovery and static restoration by the Lumsden Heritage Trust.

[5] During late January 2020, the Lumsden Heritage Trust successfully recovered 1885 V-class 127 from the dump site in the Oreti River after a recovery effort and planning that spanned six years.

No.127's recovered locomotive and tender are sitting on their wheels and bogies on a specially built siding at the Lumsden Railway Precinct.

The recovery of the two V-class locomotives has garnered media attention as far away as the UK and the Trust's Lumsden base has seen an influx of interested tourists and visitors.