Like most of the class of lightweight 4-6-0s, it was allocated to lines in Mid Wales, but was also based Oxley and Newton Abbot.

7821 was withdrawn in November 1965 and was sent to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales.

7821 moved again in 2005 to the Churnet Valley Railway where it served its last months of its boiler ticket in traffic.

In 2007, the West Somerset Railway Association bought 7821 from its private owner, in part funded by reselling GWR 0-6-0PT No.

In light of a mechanical examination showing that the locomotive needed extensive and expensive chassis and boiler work, whilst funding is raised for its overhaul the WSRA agreed a static display contract with the Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon for a minimum contract period of five years.