It would not be until 2016 that it would return to service on the main line, following which it was based down in London at Southall Railway Centre working rail tours in the southern half of the UK.

On 23 August 2016, Princess Elizabeth hauled its inaugural main line train of the Steam Dreams' Cathedrals Express from London Victoria to Minehead on the West Somerset Railway via Ascot, Reading and Newbury and return.

6201 returned to service in 2019 and is now part of West Coast Railways pool of engines based at Carnforth MPD for trips in the north of Britain.

As part of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, on 3 June 2012, after arriving in London with a Vintage Trains rail tour from Tyseley heading to Kensington Olympia, Princess Elizabeth's whistle signalled the start of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant while the locomotive was standing on Battersea Railway Bridge.

[6] On 11 July, Princess Elizabeth hauled the Royal Train from Newport to Hereford and again from Worcester to Oxford as part of the Diamond Jubilee Tour.

It is believed that it was the first time that the Queen had travelled behind the locomotive that was named after her and the event came just a few weeks before the 50th anniversary of the preservation of the loco, which has been owned by the Princess Elizabeth Locomotive Society longer than under both the LMS and British Railways together which owned the engine from 1933 until 1962 (29 year working life).

On 22 February 2018 it was moved to Carnforth MPD for boiler repairs and other general maintenance by West Coast Railways.