Brake Composite F.8
One of two similar bogie carriages, the other being F.7, purchased in 1876 from the Ashbury Carriage & Wagon Co., Ltd., unusually with four open third class compartments next to the guards' compartment with one single third class at the opposite end; this was amended in 1885 to include two central first class compartments complete with plush interiors and curtains in the windows. Note the earlier bogie stock was slab sided, later batches having tapered lower panelling. Historian James Boyd states these were later changed to make it consist of five individual third class compartments but eyewitnesses state the two first class details were still in place when it was destroyed. It was withdrawn from traffic still retaining the utility two-tone brown livery, one of the last remaining examples to do so. Stored behind the carriage shed at Douglas Station until early 1971, at this point it was removed to the yard to the spur on the release road, put up on blocks, the bogies removed and stripped of all salvageable parts and destroyed by controlled fire. Only the bogies remain today,
Fleet No.:
Year:
Builders:
Length:
Width:
Height:
Status:
F.8
1881
Ashbury
35’ 0”
7’ 0”
9’ 4”
Scrapped
The End, F.8 ablaze outside the workshops at Douglas Station in March 1971 photograph courtesy of board member Jeffrey Kelly.
The body of F.8 before the fire in the yard at Douglas Station in March 1971, photography courtest of board members Jeffrey Kelly.
F.8 at Port Erin Station in the purple lake and off white liver in August 1938, photograph from the collection of the late A.E. Sparrowe.
The End, F.8 ablaze outside the workshops at Douglas Station in March 1971 photograph courtesy of board member Jeffrey Kelly.
Stored in parlous condition outside the carriage shed at Douglas Station in June 1969, photograph by William Cubbon.
F.8 at Port Erin Station showing fleet lettering and class designations on the 1st class, 3rd class and Guards’ compartment doors.