One of the founding members of the Isle of Wight Central was the Cowes and Newport Railway, which 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.

After the Medina Wharf was built in 1877 and 1878, the engine spent much of its life there as a shunter. Later, a rebuild took place, in which the simple weather protection was replaced by a driver's cab. When passenger service with steam rail motors was opened up for Medina Wharf staff, the “Mill Hill” was used along with a six-axle passenger car as backup. The locomotive was decommissioned in 1913 and sold in 1918 to Holloway Bros. who operated a dock at Middlesbrough.