This locomotive was built in 1952 by Hudswell Clarke by the National Coal Board and was employed at NCB Gawber Colliery at Barnsley. It remained there until the colliery closed in 1987 following a merger with nearby Wolley colliery.
In 1949 the colliery employed 1128 underground and 297 on the surface. Following the miners’ strike in 1984-85 it merged with nearby Woolley Colliery but it closed completely in 1987.
A feature of the colliery was the connecting line to the old Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway at Darton. This was quite steeply-graded and resulted in relatively-large locomotives employed on the line.
1857 was first preserved by the Coventry Steam Railway Centre which was started in 1986 by a group of enthusiasts who wanted to restore it.
It remained unrestored however and in December 2014 it was taken to a private site in Somerset.
The locomotive spent some years on the Swindon and Cricklade Railway but is now undergoing a heavy overhaul at a site near Henstridge in Somerset.
By the end of April 2022 the overhaul had been completed and the locomotive was undertaking test runs on the West Somerset Railway.
The locomotive is now based at the Blaenavon Heritage Railway.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 