Photo:
Robert Frise - GE No. 7612 in down yard platform with No. 609085

No. 7612 is noteworthy because it is an early example of a steel underframe wagon. At the grouping in 1923, it became LNER No. 629363. It is of the same general type as NE No. 609085.

The wagon still has its GER wheels and sets, but with LNER buffers fitted, except one corner where one GER buffer remains.

The vehicle found its way to Quainton via the Ministry of Defence depot at Bicester, in July 1971.

It has recently been discovered that the GER wagon has the Monarch patent door mechanism fitted - a type of dampening device. This appears to have been a relatively short lived modification to reduce damage to the drop down centre door on wagons. The more usual style was, originally, a large block of wood later replaced with a 3 leaf spring. Obviously, a centre door is heavy and the easiest way to open it in a goods yard is to pull out the securing pins and pull whilst standing well back - or to climb up and kick it from within the truck. The Monarch was an attempt to reduce damage to the part of wagons that must have needed replacing more often than the rest of a wagon.

References:
The Demonstration Goods Train - Quainton News No. 46 Spring / Summer 1982