As a Yank who has a great appreciation of British steam I am very familiar with the City of Truro. As the first British steam to break the 100 MPH barrier she is justly famous as well as it being Churchward's most famous engine. A beauty she is and we all all most fortunate she is still here. (Though I dare say, how much of the original engine is there is open to conjecture. Anyone remember Grandfather's axe whose handle has been replaced twice and the head once?) Since she is not able to go on the mainline, I would surmise that is the main reason the tube repairs, a common maintenance chore, are cited as "uneconomical."
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This is a view of the inside of that tiny cab. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=285885&nseq=9
I wouldn't fancy doing 100mph in there!
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In this current age of safety conscienceless, it is indeed very hard to imagine the culture of the past and how men were expected to run these machines in all weather riding these open cabs. It was not just a parsimonious management that thought a full cab would mollycoddle the trainman, it was also the pride of the engine crew which postulated they had what it took to be real men and sneer at the adversity of heat, cold, sun, rain, snow, biting wind and horrific accidents.
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