7812 was completed at Swindon Works in January 1939, one of the last batch built prior to the war and was allocated to Bristol Bath Road shed. Here it was employed working both passenger and freight trains to such places as Salisbury, Weymouth, Weston Super Mare and Cardiff.
BR motive power depot allocations since 1948.
| Date Arrived | Depot |
| January 1948 | Bristol Bath Road |
| May 1948 | Newton Abbott |
| August 1949 | St Blazey |
| November 1949 | Newton Abbott |
| May 1956 | Tyseley |
| July 1956 | Newton Abbott |
| December 1956 | Plymouth Laira |
| September 1959 | Truro |
| September 1960 | Oswestry |
| November 1961 | Croes Newydd |
| January 1963 | Shrewsbury |
At Newton Abbott it often assisted with long distances expresses on the Devon banks. At Shrewsbury it was actually regarded as a London Midland Region shed so 7812 was on the London Midland Region books when it was withdrawn from service in November 1965. By the time of its withdrawal 7812 had clocked up 800,000 miles whilst having six heavy repairs along the way.
It was sent to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in June 1966 from where it was purchased in 1973 by the Erlestroke Manor Fund. In May 1974 the locomotive was moved to Dowty Railway Preservation Society at Aschurch. It subsequently moved to the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) in April 1976 when it was transported to Bewdley.
7812 entered service on the SVR in September 1979 and ran there until 1985.
In April 1982 it returned to operating on the main line when it twice double headed the Welsh Marshes Pullman with 4930 Hagley Hall.
Erlestoke Manor completed its major overhaul at the Severn Valley Railway and ran again in February 2008. It is at present a regular in operation on the SVR and its boiler ticket is due to expire in 2018.
In August 2016 it completed 100,000 miles of running since it was preserved. It is the second Manor class locomotive to achieve this – the first was 7802 Bradley Manor in 2009.
7812 was taken out of service in 2017 as the boiler certificate expired at the end of December 2017.
The plan is to have the engine back in service in 2020 after undergoing a contract overhaul at Tyseley.
In April 2020 it was reported that new cylinder blocks had been cast at a Preston foundry during the previous month for 7812 and classmate 7802 Bradley Manor. The owner of the both locomotives has launched an appeal for £25,000 to enable the two engines to be returned to service during 2020.
It was reported in November 2020 that work on the overhaul had progressed to a stage where the boiler would soon be ready for hydraulic testing.
In May 2021 it was reported that the boiler had been filled with water for the first time since 2017. It was then planned that a hydraulic test of the boiler would be undertaken soon and this would be follow soon afterwards by a steam test before the boiler was returned to the locomotives frames at Tyseley. The expectation is that Erlestoke Manor would return to the Severn Valley Railway later in 2021.
In October 2021 the out of frames boiler test was carried out successfully before work started on cladding the boiler before lifting it back onto the frames.
In February 2022 the boiler was placed back on the frames at Tyseley. It was hoped that the locomotive would be back in service on the Severn Valley Railway during 2022.
In November 2022 it was reported that the locomotive had a fire lit in the boiler for the first time in five years and was being made ready for a its in-steam boiler insurance examination. It was then hoped the locomotive would be back at the Severn Valley Railway before the end of November 2022.
The locomotive returned to the Severn Valley Railway at the beginning of December 2022. Whilst undergoing test runs shortly after this and it was then found that the central driver bearing was running warm and further tests were abandoned.
| Home Base | Current Status | Owner |
| Severn Valley Railway | Under overhaul | Erlestoke Manor Fund |
- 7802 Bradley Manor
- 7808 Cookham Manor
- 7819 Hinton Manor
- 7820 Dinmore Manor
- 7821 Ditcheat Manor
- 7822 Foxcote Manor
- 7827 Lydham Manor
- 7828 Odney Manor
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 