THIS WEEK IN 1973: Just like the good old days for retired Cecil

Surrounded by a jostling, camera-clicking crowd of railway enthusiasts, retired train driver Cecil Miller, 72, enjoyed a quiet moment of nostalgia as an historic locomotive was returned to the Isle of Wight.
Cecil Miller with Brighton, which he first drove in the 1920'sCecil Miller with Brighton, which he first drove in the 1920's
Cecil Miller with Brighton, which he first drove in the 1920's

The celebration had been arranged to mark the return of the 95-year-old Terrier class steam engine Brighton after a 26-year absence.

It was destined for the Wight Locomotive Society’s steam preservation centre.

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Mr Miller, who retired from the railways 12 years earlier, remembered the days in 1920 when, as a newly-qualified train driver, he was at the controls of the same engine.

‘I’m pleased to see the old engine back again,’ he said.

The engine returned to the island on the back of a lorry aboard a Portsmouth-Fishborne car ferry.

After a handing-over ceremony, it was taken to Ryde St John’s station where enthusiasts of the Wight Locomotive Society hoped to restore it to working condition in time for the summer season at the society’s Havenstreet centre.

There, it would join the society’s three other steam engines including another island veteran, Calbourne.