These three vans were supplied by the Swansea Carriage & Wagon Co., Ltd., for the opening of the Manx Northern Railway in 1879 and inherited by the Railway Company upon the merger of 1905, thereafter being allocated new numbers with the small “r”  prefix in common with other series.  The three were the first to be delivered with vertical planked sides.

Kr.5 was scrapped as early as 1924 with no further recycling of frames as was common at the time; K.6 was fitted with a roof in 1916 and survived after withdrawal until 1960, and the last example Kr.7 remained without a roof and was scrapped in 1963.  The accompanying illustration shows the unroofed van with vertical planking and is imagined in “as delivered” condition, largely conjectural!