The first of these bogie carriages were supplied in 1876 by Brown, Marshalls & Co., and later became known as the “Small Fs” owing to a lower roof profile than the later vehicles.  9’ 6” tall on wooden underframes, they had the frames concealed by the lower panelling of the bodies in common with other early stock such as the Empress Vans and Small Luggages.

When the post-war red and cream livery was adopted starting in 1946, to match the later stock with exposed solebars a black stripe was painted along the bottom of the carriage bodies, though when this livery was reinstated in 1999-2000 this was absent until 2013 making for an unusual appearance in trains of mixed rakes.  

Seven of these initial batches remain in regular traffic today, with an eighth, F.6, presently off-island and due to return in early 2025; all other examples have been scrapped. Click the links on the left hand side below to find out more on each member of this initial series of bogie carriages (see also F.19-F.20 and F.21-F.26):-