The first of the final batch of six “Small F” carriages (save for the Empress Vans of 1897) delivered from the Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co., of Birmingham in 1896, F.21 featured four first class compartments, one third class and a guards’  compartment with brake ducket and bulkhead lookout windows in common with others of the series.  It also had narrower compartment windows and small panels between the compartments, as seen today on the restored F.15 now once again in traffic. Two first class compartments were removed in 1928 making the configuration G / 3rd / 1st  / 1st / 3rd / 3rd which it retains today, though notably now with a third first class compartment.

It remained in regular traffic until the closure in 1965 and also saw use under the auspices of the Marquis of Ailsa; it was  damaged in a collision on 21st August 1967 west of Union Mills Station when the 12.20pm ex-Douglas Station was given the right away to proceed by the guard and about a quarter-mile towards Crosby Station driver John Elkin spotted a train travelling in the opposite direction and immediately applied the steam brake, though a collision was unavoidable.  As a result, train guard Frank McMullin resigned his position.  The coupling gear was damaged as a result and records indicate that repairs were made but it saw little use after this incident.

Being timber framed and retaining wooden brake blocks its use was not favoured latterly and the carriage left the Island in 1974, first finding refuge at Portmadoc on the Ffestiniog Railway together with F.3; it was then sold to Alan Keef Ltd., then of Cote, Oxford along with the remains of F.3.  The bogies of both vehicles were subsequently re-sold to the Irish Narrow Gauge Trust, ending up at Cahir, Eire.  It was briefly moved for possible use on the reborn section of the Tralee & Dingle Railway, before going to Dromod, southern terminus of the Cavan & Leitrim Railway in 1992 where work had commenced (with E.E.C. funding) to restore a five-mile section of this 3’ 0” gauge line. 

By the spring of 1999 issue No.123 of our journal Manx Steam Railway News reported that during the intervening period the Isle of Man Railway had been kept aware of progress on a “slow re-build” and it seemed she was destined to be marooned in the Emerald Isle forever. However, in the Autumn of 1998 the project at Dromod was in need of a capital injection and the sale of F.21 was suggested and the undertook to purchase back the vehicle and return her home.  She left Dromod on 23rd November 1999, with Stephen Carter of the Laxey Towing Co., in charge and was loaded onto Mezeron’s Silver River in Belfast the following day, for shipment to Ramsey.  

Arriving back shortly thereafter, due to shortage of space in Douglas Station during the work there, the carriage was taken by road to Port Erin Station for temporary storage in the engine shed, where she arrived on 25th November 1998 (it will be recalled that at this time a new carriage shed was under construction for the southern terminus).  The railway’s joiners initially began to complete the restoration though a change in management later saw work halted. The carriage was moved into the then-new carriage shed when it was completed and has remained here since 1999 - some reviews of work required and remedial attention have been carried out since.

F.21 remains on the prospective list for eventual restoration and return to traffic, and with the recent return of F.15 following extensive restoration in 2022, followed by the return of F.11 in 2024 with sister F.10 due in 2025 there is hope for this well-travelled example of early rolling stock to one day carry passengers.  Some of the accompanying image below illustrate the extent of works undertaken on the carriage while off-island, including the noteworthy addition of a third compartment now converted into first class accomodation, betwixt and between the two historic configurations.