Smallbrook Junction is an interesting station. It’s an interchange between the Island Line and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, with no other way of getting to it – either on foot or by car. So when you’re getting to it via steam train, as we were, there’s a lot to dash about and do in a very short space of time when trying to pup the station. This is because there are two places to photograph. The mainline platform sign, in the classic style BR Southern Region totem, and the Steam Railway sign in a classic Southern Railway roundel. As Echo and I jumped off the train while the loco ran around we knew time was against us. We had spent the last few moments of the journey preparing everything so we had all the bits we needed at an easy grab and we sped over to the Island Line side of the station first. With a hurried dash we tracked down a reasonably nice looking totem and grabbed our photos. A whistle behind us let us know that the loco had detached from the train and was running around to the other end. We were running out of time and we had another platform to do. So we got up and made the dash back to the Steam Railway side.

Other pups to visit this station: