Following Proteus' disappearance, the Mid Sodor Railway had been looking for other engines to purchase. They were very lucky to find 2 rather cheap engines in 1920. The first was a Baldwin Class 10-12-D 4-6-0 pannier tank engine, built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, named Stanley, after a well known politician at that time. He was built in 1917 and shipped to France to work on the Trench Railway, and then sold to the MSR as war surplus with WW1 finished, where he became the new No.2, replacing Proteus. The second was an 0-4-2ST from Kerr Stuart and Co, England, named Stuart, who was delivered to the railway by traction engine, and became the railways 4th engine.
The following year, the MSR bought another engine: A Hunslet 2-6-2T locomotive, built in 1906 by the Hunslet Engine Company in Hunslet, England, named Freddie, who became the railways 5th engine. When he first arrived, he claimed to be the fastest engine on the railway, which annoyed Stuart and Falcon. One day, they decided to race to see who could get their jobs done quickest, however towards the end of the day, Stuart went too fast round a bend, and derailed. Luckily, he wasn't hurt, but the Manager was very annoyed, and told all 3 of them that they would stay in the shed if he heard about them racing again. They put their little feud to rest, and have been great friends ever since.
By 1921, all of the loaned engines to the North Western Railway, that weren't purchased, had gone back to their respective railways. This was at a time of great difficulty as with the end of the war, the NWR's military value had ceased, and Government support was withdrawn. Mr. Bertram Topham Hatt was placed in charge of finding new engines, becoming the railways Director, and gaining the nickname "The Fat Director".
A few engines were loaned to the NWR from other railways the next year. These included a Great Eastern Railway D56 Class, named Molly, a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Class 28, named Eagle, a London North Eastern Railway K1 Mogul, with only the number 87546, and a B16, also with only a number, being 98462, also from the LNER. Mr. Bertram also wanted to purchase a Great Central Railway Robertson Atlantic Class locomotive, but was given an engine that was "unique". In 1919, plans from Sir Nigel Gresley were stolen by an envious rival locomotive builder. However, instead of stealing the designs for the A1 Pacific locomotives, the thief stole rejected plans for the engine, but that wouldn't be realized until it was almost finished being built. The engines name was Henry, named after the thiefs grandfather, and his main problem was that his firebox was too small, resulting in him being a very shy steamer. Despite this, after a few years of doing odd jobs and taking trains to other railways, the thief managed to sell his "White Elephant" to a very desperate Mr. Bertram in 1922, who believed he was purchasing an Atlantic. He had some very strong words to express his thoughts when he realized he had been scammed, but he had no choice but to keep Henry as the railway was desperate for motive power at the time. 98462, 87546, and Molly made fun of him for his poor performances.
In October that year, Henry stopped inside of Ballahoo Tunnel because he thought the rain would spoil his "lovely green paint and red stripes", after seeing a poster at Vicarstown be spoiled by it. In doing so, he was blocking the entire main line, so Eagle, who was pulling a train with Mr. Bertram on board, had to stop behind him, outside of the tunnel. The passengers tried everything to get Henry to move. First, they argued with him, next they tried pulling him themselves, then they tried pushing him, finally Eagle tried pushing him, but nothing worked. In the end, Mr. Bertram arranged a bus service for the passengers, and decided to rip up the old rails, brick up the tunnel, and leave Henry there to teach him a lesson. Another reason for his decision was his annoyance with Henry's steaming issues. With Henry being walled up in the tunnel, Eagle and 87546 were stuck at Vicarstown. Trains had to run from Tidmouth to Crovan's Gate, with a bus service to Vicarstown, until a 2nd tunnel was bored right next to Henry. The tunnel soon gained the nickname "Henry's Tunnel".
Over the course of 1920 and 1921, at Doncaster Works, Sir Nigel was working on an experimental prototype of his A1 Pacific design for the Great Northern Railway, which later merged into the LNER. The design had faults which needed to be fixed, making the engine a "hush, hush" project. The engine was given test runs, but never put into GNR traffic, or given a number. He only had a name: Gordon. Once he had been cured of his defects, and the first batch of Pacifics were built and running, there was no further need for Gordon, and so he was sold to the NWR in January 1923, with a spare boiler and firebox as Mr. Bertram was looking for a replacement for Henry. He was put on express duties for the main line, and noticed Henry shut up in the tunnel. When he heard the story from the other engines, he would blow steam at him, just like 98462, 87546, and Molly.
Sometime in March, Gordon burst his safety valve just outside of Henry's tunnel as he was pulling the express. Edward was the only engine not busy, so he was brought to move the train, but it was too heavy for him. As a last resort, Mr. Bertram decided to let Henry help Edward. The 2 engines made it to Vicarstown on time, and then they helped Gordon to the Crovan's Gate Works. After Henry went to the works to be repaired from sitting in a tunnel for 5 months, his work performance improved drastically. Mr. Bertram was so pleased with Henry, that he decided to make him the NWR's official No.3.
With all the more modern engines on the railway, Edward was used less and less, and eventually became Vicarstown's pilot engine. He didn't mind shunting, but he wished he could pull trains again. Molly had learned to respect Edward and Henry, but Gordon, 98462, and 87546 took great pride in teasing both of them. One day, Glynn overheard them talking badly about Edward, and he snapped at them to stop, but to no avail. He decided to tell Mr. Bertram about this, who agreed to let Edward have a run. The next morning, Henry was having steam issues, so Mr. Bertram agreed to let Edward take his train. Edward enjoyed his run, and even saw some old friends from the pre-NWR days. Mr. Bertram was so pleased with Edward, that he sent him to do some shunting at Wellsworth the next day. That morning, Gordon told Edward to look out for him pulling the express that afternoon, however Mr. Bertram took the express away from him as a punishment for being rude to Edward and Glynn, and assigned him to goods work. Gordon got stuck on the hill between Wellsworth and Maron, and refused to try again. Edward was called to push Gordon up the hill, and when they reached the top, Gordon rushed through Maron without saying thank you to Edward. Edward's driver and fireman were so pleased with him, that they promised to give him a new coat of blue paint with red stripes. Edward told Glynn about this, and the next day, he decided to teach Gordon a lesson by going so slow in front of him so that he would get stuck on the hill again, and Edward would have to push him and his goods train again. The hill eventually gained the nickname "Gordon's Hill" from these incidents.
98462 and 87546 kept on belittling Edward and Henry, so Mr. Bertram finally decided to send them both back to the Mainland. He also demoted Gordon to a shunting engine, threatening to send him away as well if he didn't change his attitude. He eventually proved himself, when he volunteered to do Edward's work when he needed repairs, and pushed Henry to the water tower. As a reward, Mr. Bertram gave the express back to Gordon, and made him the railways official 4th engine, having him painting blue, just like Edward.
During that same year, the Peel Godred Power Company was granted permission to build a dam, and hydroelectric power station at the nearby lakes. They were originally going to use the MSR for transportation of their equipment, but it was too bulky to fit the line clearances, so an agreement was struck with the NWR to build a branch line from Killdane to Peel Godred. The engines serving the line were electric, supplied by the power company as the grades were too steep for the steam engines. This decision marked the beginning of the end for the MSR as passengers and goods traffic to and from Peel Godred started to slowly decline.
Towards the end of the year, Mr. Bertram had decided to establish a night train for post services on Sodor with the recent increase in mail deliveries. Henry volunteered as he thought constantly pulling trains would reduce his occasional steaming issues. Mr. Bertram had also been starting to think about the 10th Anniversary of the NWR's formation next year. He decided to have a display of all of his engines, both new and old, for the public to see, and there would be a parade to end the celebration. He decided to have Stephen and Emily refurbished for the event. Neil was not refurbished or at the celebration as he had been forgotten about.
In the spring, Stephen and Emily were refurbished, and during the summer, the NWR celebrated its 10th Anniversary. After the celebration ended, Molly was sent back to the GER and Stephen and Emily were sent back to their shed, only to be let out during the summer or special occasions. Stephen tried to prove he was suitable for shunting, but he wasn't strong enough anymore.
During the year, buses started to become more popular on the Elsbridge branch. Glynn tried to prove he was just as reliable as a bus, but one day, not too long after the 10th Anniversary, he broke down from overworking himself, and even after being repaired, started to have steaming issues. Because Mr. Bertram didn't want to have to constantly be repairing Glynn, but also didn't want to scrap him, he put him on a siding at Elsbridge, leaving the remaining 2 Coffee Pots to run the branch line themselves.
With more people travelling on the NWR following the celebration, Mr. Bertram decided to look for a tank engine to be the new pilot engine at Vicarstown. He quickly found a London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Class E2 0-6-0T, named Thomas. He was built on June 15, 1915 at Brighton Works. He was among a second batch of E2's built, with extended side-tanks, however he was unique as he was accidentally built with uneven front and rear buffers. He had a sloped front running board, but his rear buffers weren't lowered to match. The E2s were mostly built for shunting and short-distance goods trains. Thomas got bored of constantly shunting, and started talking about how he wanted to see the world. This annoyed the other engines, and even the Manager. One day, Thomas crashed into some buffers while shunting, and as a punishment, the Manager had him repainted green, instead of brown, which was the colour of all the modern E2's. By 1924, Thomas had never been asked to take any trains, and the LB&SCR had no need for him anymore, so they planned to scrap him. When Mr. Bertram heard about this, he decided to purchase Thomas for a "nominal sum". When he arrived on Sodor, Edward showed him around Vicarstown and what to do. Thomas got along with Edward, Eagle, and most of the other engines, but Gordon made fun of him, saying that Mr. Bertram "made a terrible mistake". This made Thomas cross, and he planned to prove him wrong.
Mr. Bertram was so pleased with Thomas' work, that he sent him to the works to be repainted blue, and made him the NWR's new No.1. This quickly got to Thomas' head, and he started to become annoyed that he was just shunting again. He decided to have some fun by coming up quietly alongside a big engine resting in a siding and blowing his whistle to startle them. The engines started to find Thomas annoying, especially Henry as Thomas had heard about his incident with the rain, and teased him endlessly about it. One day, Gordon got so annoyed with the teasing, that he decided to get back at Thomas by pulling him behind his express all the way to Crovan's Gate, much to Thomas' embarrassment. Since then, Thomas was careful not to be cheeky to the others again.
The NWR struck a deal with the London Midland & Scottish Railway: The NWR allowed the LMS to run services to Norramby, and the LMS allowed the NWR to run services to Barrow-in-Furness. The LMS also agreed to supply the NWR with an engine: An experimental variant of the L&YR Class 28s, named James. He was unique from his class, as he was fitted with a pony truck placed in front, making him a 2-6-0, instead of a normal 0-6-0, and 5'6" driving wheels, instead of the usual 5'1". He was also unique, because he had wooden brake blocks, which did not entirely produce the results hoped for. He was given 2 new coaches, called Annie and Clarabel, who arrived on the railway for passenger trains not too long before James arrived. He proved to be very rough with them, and they asked Thomas to tell him to be careful. James wouldn't listen to him, thinking that he was a main line engine, and Thomas was the pilot for a reason. Gordon agreed that Thomas should leave the trains to the big engines, but Thomas snapped, saying that he would one day pull trains. Gordon and James only laughed, saying he was too impatient and that he would leave something behind, but this only made Thomas more determined.
With 5 engines of his own, Mr. Bertram no longer needed Eagle, so he sent him back to the L&YR. Before he left, he gave Thomas some advice about being patient, and how he would get a chance to prove himself one day.
One day towards the end of the year, Thomas did get his chance as Henry was ill, and the workmen couldn't make him better. Mr. Bertram decided to find another engine, and Thomas was the only one available. Thomas was so excited, that his mistook James' guard's whistle for his, leaving his entire train behind, but he was stopped just outside the stations entrance by the signalmen. The signalman told him he needed to go back, much to Thomas' embarrassment again. He successfully pulled the train, but the bigger engines constantly teased Thomas about his mistake.