This experimental engine along with two others was built in 1847, at Crewe,
in reply to advocates of the broad gauge that the development of standard gauge engines had
reached its limit - see Talbot E, Illustrated History of LNWR Engines.
The engine was rebuilt a number of times by most of the Locomotive Superintendents of the LNWR and
managed to survive in service until at least the 1920s
It survived to reach preservation and is now in the care of the NRM. It has been kept in the same basic
condition as it was on retirement
To those who saw Cornwall a few years ago, and anyone who has ever looked at photographs of engines in
Webb’s livery, the unpainted dome seen here looks wrong and out of place. It is true that for a very few
years around 1920, Cornwall did have a polished dome, but apart from that eccentric interval,
from the 1870s until 1984 its dome was painted black.
With so very few LNWR engines preserved, it seems odd to perpetuate this unique abnormality.