During their working lives the members of the'County' class were spread over a wide area of the Westen Region, from Penzance to Shrewsbury and Neyland. 1006 County of Cornwall was shedded in the county from 1954 to 1960, mainly at Penzance.

Trevor Tremethick recalls "The 'Counties' may have been popular with the running foremen, but not so much with their crews. I remember conversations with a Truro driver and fireman, specifically about 1023 'County of Oxford' - always regarded as 'The Pride of Truro'.
The driver's comment was simply: "She was not as good as all that."
The fireman was more forthright: “Not very good. She gave a lot of trouble on the night train from Penzance. The tubes would block up and would have to be cleared with a fire iron over the brick arch. She was bad for steam.”
Some were better than others. 1010 'County of Caernarvon' was said to be a good one. Nevertheless, they gave sterling service over the Cornish road and many, including the Bristol allocation, were regularly seen in Cornwall".