The early four-wheeled carriages delivered to the railway for the opening of the Peel Line in 1873 were the only carriages on the railway until the delivery of the first bogie carriages in 1876; the original stock was quickly close-coupled so that by 1881 two carriages ran as one unit for ease of shunting and coupling, largely remaining in this formation with original fleet numbers.

This was the case until 1909 when a scheme was commenced to mount these onto new bogie underframes supplied by the Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co., of Saltley in Birmingham and this would continue until the final carriages were to treated in 1926.  For this reason they became known as the “pairs”, a moniker which remains today.

Thereafter the series were allocated “F” series numbers (prior to this they retained their original numbers and were still treated as separate vehicles in the records).  Generally they were used at peak times, a rake being largely dedicated for schools traffic latterly; some were stripped of their bodies to be used as runners of the “R” series.

Of note, “pairs” which included “A” series vehicles were were 1’ 0” longer (34’ 2” as opposed to 33’ 2”) than the others of the series to accommodate the longer bodies of this series (note there are no two of the “A” series on one frame for this reason).  None of the four-wheel “E” series were so treated and remained as built.

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