Smallbrook Junction (SAB)

Smallbrook Junction is a recent addition to the Isle of Wight's Island Line and was built to form an interchange with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway which had extended their line to Smallbrook Junction. The station opened in 1991 [1].

Information
Type:	National Rail (Island Line) & Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Station code:	SAB
Opened:	1991
Platforms:	2

Smallbrook Junction itself predates the station by some margin, in 1926 the new owners of the railways on the island the Southern Railway installed turnouts and a signal box at the location [2]. Prior to this there had been two separate lines owned by the Isle of Wight Central Railway and the Isle of Wight Railway.

Smallbrook Junction is a basic station with two platforms of wood construction for the National Railway and the heritage line (though some of the heritage line's steam locomotives are younger than the Island Line's Class 483 EMUs!) There is a ticket office on the IOWSR's platform but little else on the station. An interesting feature of the station is that there is no non-rail access to the station, the only way on or off it is by rail. The station is only open when the Isle of Wight Steam Railway is operating.

483 007 has just deposited a load of passengers for the steam railway

A1 Class W11 on the IOWSR's platform

Ivatt Class 2 41298 on the IOWSR platform

483 007 arrives on a Ryde bound service

The Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Opening in 1971 the Isle of Wight Steam Railway runs for nine km between Smallbrook Junction and Wootton via Havenstreet, it's headquarters. The IOWSR has preserved part of what was once the line to Newport, the capital of the island. Although there have been plans to extend the railway back towards Newport roads and houses have now been built across the former trackbed making it unlikely.

The IOWSR maintains an excellent collection of rolling stock at Havenstreet including Victorian and Edwardian era stock from the island's railway past when an extensive network operated.

Stock shed at Havenstreet

[1] R.J. Maycock & R. Silsbury, The Isle of Wight Steam Railway from 1923 Onwards (Oakwook Press, 2006) p. 242
[2] Ibid p. 81