| The commonest shock open merchandise wagons on BR were constructed with wooden bodies. GWR, SR and LMS body styles were used and the brake rigging varied. One batch had a plain solebar with the shock gear inside the solebars, the others had the shock absorbing gear on the outside. The underframes were a standard 17ft. 6in. long, so the bodies were short. Because of this they had lower capacity compared to the comparative opens, and this may have been a reason for popularity with engineers - they were less susceptible to overloading with dense ballast waste. |
