In 1922 a commission appointed by the Government of Northern Ireland recommended that the loss-making line should be taken over by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland), but the GNR(I) declined. The company struggled on, until it was taken over by a committee of management appointed by Tyrone and Fermanagh County Councils in 1928. Henry Forbes, the manager of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee (CDRJC), was one of the members of the new committee and was instrumental in introducing diesel traction - a then novel form of motive power. To reduce operating costs, two diesel vehicles were built for the railway by Walker Brothers of Wigan - a 28-seat railbus in 1932 and a rail lorry in 1933. The railbus was virtually identical to those operated by the CDRJC (which purchased both vehicles following the line's closure). In 1932 the CDRJC also acquired the CVR's unsuccessful steam tram locomotive built by Atkinson Walker, which was rebuilt as "Phoenix" with a diesel engine. This locomotive is now preserved at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra. The last trains ran on 31 December 1941, the railway becoming a victim of road competition and cost-saving measures during World War II.