In 2010, the LT&L decided to electrify the gap between the existing 3kvdc wires at Lynville, PQ and Brownsville Junction, ME, and that meant they’d need to order new K class motors to operate on this line.

Portland was booked up, so ILW got the order to build these units; they updated their previous K4 units with Draper Taper-style notches behind the cab for switching visibility and started delivering these revised motors in April 2011.

These units were ILW’s last ones produced with their first-generation cabs; orders for that design had dried up in favor of the streamlined boxcabs like those on the class DP2 dual-power locomotives.