M.N.Ry. No.17 (F.38)

One of two composite carriages provided to the Manx Northern Railway by Hurst-Nelson & Co., Ltd., of Motherwell, Scotland in 1899, these were the most superior bogie stock the railway possessed.  Originally allocated the fleet number No.16 which became F.37 upon the takeover by the Railway Company in 1905, this carriage was similar in many ways to F.47 and F.48 supplied by the Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co., Ltd., of Saltley Works in Birmingham in 1916, being six standard third class compartments (sister carriage F.37 was made up of three third class compartments, a guards' compartment with double doors and two central first class compartments).  


The carriage can be distinguished from its Metropolitan counterparts by the different arrangement of solebars, varying beading detail, longer grab rails and more plush interiors.  They were the only stock on the island to have slam-lock door handles, akin to those used on British Railways and were lit by electricity from new, the first carriages to do so on the island.  Upon the 1905 merger it was renumbered into the large F series bogie stock and remained in regular traffic up until 1960, being in poorer condition it was withdrawn and stored.  


It was sold, together with F.37 and other carriages, to the Phyllis Rampton Charitable Trust in 1975 and left the island.  happily both the Hurst-Nelson carriages were repatriated by the railway in late 2022 and are currently in storage.

M.N.Ry. Fleet No.:

I.M.Ry. Fleet No.:

Seating Capacity:

Built:

Manufacturers:

Width:

Length:

Height:

No.17

F.38

48

1899

Hurst-Nelson 

7’ 0¾” 

35’ 6”

8’ 0½ ” 

F.38 on arrival back on the island following repatriation in 2022 just prior to going into storage off-site from the railway.