Purchased for the opening of the Manx Northern Railway on 23rd September 1879 from the Swansea Carriage & Wagon Co., as supplied this carriage was largely identical to sister No.1 but was stripped of its first class interior in 1903.

This was carried out after the delivery of the bogie stock from Hurst-Nelson (two carriages designated No.16 and No.17 later becoming F.37 and F.38), with one of the partitions removed making two unequal compartments.  

The larger of the two vestibules made it popular with butchers travelling to the mart on Mondays, a convivial atmosphere being enjoyed leading to it becoming known as the “Butchers’ Coach”; by the 1930s it had largely fallen out of use.

Stored in the carriage shed at Ramsey Station with others of the series, by 1955 this space was rented out and the carriages were relocated to St. John’s Station where they residing on Harry Cubbon’s Wing beside the carriage shed.

In 1964 it was removed from its underframes and placed on the plinth outside the workshops at Douglas Station to be used as a crew mess or “bothy” (replacing No.12 which was scrapped), where it remained until 1999.

When it was removed it then spent a period stored with other stock in the former Road Services depot at Homefield Garage until this space was vacated, when it returned to home metals, being placed on  a runner and stored in the yard at Douglas Station. 

Happily, in 2009 it was returned to its original position and is now used as a store, very much part of the look of the yard between the workshops and running shed on a plinth.  It was painted into the purple lake scheme and original fleet numbering.  

A further repaint in 2024 saw the vehicle repainted into the post-war red scheme with the later fleet numbering applied in 2025.  Over the years it has carried a number of liveries including sky blue, dark green, purple lake and red with off-white panelling.