One of the founding members of the Isle of Wight Central was the Cowes and Newport Railway that had been established in 1859 and operated a 4.5 mile line to the north of the line along the River Medina. In 1970 Black, Hawthorn & Co. in Gateshead-on-Tyne built a small tank locomotive with a saddle tank, which was later to be number 3 in the combined railway company.