The present picture is a study for or version of A Terminus in the West of 1925 (National Railway Museum, York). Both pictures depict the arrival of a steam-train at Penzance Station, opened in 1879 to replace a wooden building that served as the terminus of the line from Redruth. Forbes’ interest in railway subjects was partly inspired by Sir James Ball, the Chief Engineer for the L.B. & S.C. Railway whose portrait Forbes painted in 1920. He was also commissioned in 1924 to design a poster for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway Company entitled The Permanent Way, Relaying. However, it was also the energy and social diversity of railway stations and the way they had opened up the countryside to visitors that appealed to Forbes’ imagination; by exhibiting his paintings of Cornwall he helped to popularise the area as a holiday destination.
[Sotheby’s, London - Oil on canvas, 76.5 x 61 cm]
