Ferry Wagons Hired from SBAFB

[vschiffer]

Hello,

I am trying to find out more information on the type of wagon shown in the attached picture. This picture was shown (in better resolution) in Peter Tatlow's book on LNER wagons, Volume 4A and in British Railways Illustrated Vol. 2, No. 6 (August/September 1993). These wagons, originally build for the British War Department during WW1, were sold to the Belgian State Railways (Etat Belge) after the war and a number of them ended up in the ferry boat stock of the Société Anglo-Belge des Ferry-Boats (SBAFB, English-Belgian ferry-boat company), a joint venture of the LNER and the Belgian State Railways. As pointed out in Peter Tatlow's book, the LNER entered into a hiring agreement with the SBAFB to avoid demurrage charges.

I am now looking for details of this hiring agreement:
- When was the hiring agreement started and when did it end?
- How many of these wagons were included in this hiring agreement? Is there a list of the wagon numbers included in this agreement?
- What happened to these wagons after the end of the hiring agreement?

The most reliable information I have so far is this picture and a G.E.R. drawing (23797E), all other information on the web seems to be based on assumptions. In particular, I am looking for additional information on these wagons, such as:
- Are there any other pictures known that show this type of wagon?
- Are all inscriptions in black or are some of them in red (as suggested by a website on ferry wagons)? Is there any evidence that part of the inscriptions are in red?
- What kind of goods was predominantly carried in these wagons? It looks like some of them were used to carry marble, but these wagons had their doors modified into cupboard doors, so they are not exactly the wagons shown in the picture.

I hope some of you can come up with some of the information I am looking for. I look forward to hearing from you.

Viktor Schiffer