By the late 1980's most of the locomotives in Barry Scrapyard had been removed for preservation. There was a feeling, at that time, that the remaining locomotives might be cut up by Dai Woodham. It was also realised that by that time, none of the locomotives that had been at Barry had been preserved in Wales. A number of people, led by Robert Adley M.P., & the Barry Steam Locomotive Action Group decided that it was fitting for a Steam Centre to be set up in South Wales, where ex-Barry locomotives could be restored & displayed.

The National Heritage Memorial Fund was approached & agreed a grant of some £80,000 to acquire ten locomotives, all different, which had a connection with Wales. These ten locomotives were purchased & placed in the ownership of South Glamorgan County Council. One condition of the grant was that all ten locomotives should be kept together & treated as one collection. The ten were transported to Cardiff where they were placed under the care of the erstwhile Butetown Historic Railway Society, while preparations were made to set up a Wales Railway Centre at Bute Road Station in Cardiff Dockland. While this was going on asbestos was removed from the locomotives & some light cosmetic work - mainly repainting was carried out.

Unfortunately, due to various circumstances, the scheme to establish a Wales Railway Centre did not come to fruition & the locomotives remained in an unrestored state at Bute Road Station.

In 1994, the Butetown Historic Railway Society became the Vale of Glamorgan Railway Company and, at the invitation of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, moved to Barry Island. The ten locomotives were moved from Cardiff & put in storage in a bus depot in Barry. Subsequently, they were moved to new storage in a warehouse at Sully, near Barry, & finally to the E.W.S. Depot at Barry. Ownership of the locomotives is complicated by the fact that South Glamorgan County Council was split in 1994 into Cardiff County Council & the Vale of Glamorgan county Council & so the exact ownership of the locomotives has to be established.

Various schemes for the restoration of the locomotives have been suggested over the years, including cannibalisation of some of them to build new versions of extinct GWR locomotives. As some of the very last locomotives to leave Barry scrapyard, they are in an extremely poor condition, having been stripped of virtually all useable parts. Whatever is to become of them, it is certain that a great deal of money & effort will need to be expended.