in the South Island, where she saw service hauling the Greymouth - Otira mail trains. Her wooden cab was replaced at this stage in steel, and acetylene lighting replaced the original kerosene. In the early 1920s she was relegated to shunting and banking duties at Otira. For work in this role, 453 was fitted with back up sanding and a tender-cab, with the tender coal flare cut off and ladders fitted to access the tender body. In 1925 N 453's original boiler was removed and replaced with a new NZR built boiler. Despite this, in November 1926 No.9 was withdrawn from service, dismantled and tipped into the Bealey River on the Midland Line to check erosion. Why the locomotive was removed from service is not known, however all useful and re-usable components from the locomotive were removed, including the boiler which saw further service on Wb 300. Recovery of an engine By the end of the 20th century, most of the once numerous locomotive remains in the Bealey River valley had been scrapped or buried in river protection works. No.9 was the only engine left unaffected, but with an uncertain future. In 2003, the Trust began recovering the remnants of No. 9 from where it had been dumped near Arthur's Pass along the Midland Line. The locomotive had been dismantled and dumped in November 1926, to stabilise the railway embankment and to try and prevent floods from eroding the formation. The first item recovered was the locomotive frame and cylinders, which were trucked to the Canterbury Steam Preservation Society at McLeans Island, Christchurch. In 2006 the locomotive tender, truck frames and other associated items which had been uncovered were trucked from the dump site to be stored with the frame. The parts were then trucked to Steam Incorporated, Paekakariki (site of the former WMR depot where No.9 was based) on 26 February 2007, where restoration has commenced. It is unlikely there is anything more worthy of salvage from the dump site for No.9. The original boiler from No.9 has been located at the Oxford Boiler Dump, but is not worthy of salvage and re-use. Restoration In 2006 the Trust signed an agreement with Steam Incorporated, and once No.9 had been moved there restoration began in earnest, with the initial focus being on restoring the tender before tackling the locomotive proper. As a part of the agreement with Steam Incorporated, No.9