Wellington has a walk-on role in an enjoyable tussle between rival groups of steam engine enthusiasts. One set claims that the first locomotive to top 100mph was the City of Truro coming downhiil from Whiteball in May 1904.
However, official railway history says that the 100mph barrier was first broken by the far more famous Flying Scotsman over 30 years later.
The Scotsman has been much in the news recently after a huge restoration and the celebration over its claimed record caused Christopher Smith, a patriotic Cornishman to write crossly to The Times this week.
Mr Smith says that in May 1904 City of Truro was descending Wellington Bank, hauling a 150-tonne mail train to London, and timed by the editor of Railway Gazette at 102.3mph – a record that stood for over 30 years.