NER V4? Brake Van ex-Ashington

[Rlangham]

As well as the superbly restored NER V4 brake van at Monkwearmouth Station Museum, I believe there may be another survivor at the Tanfield Railway:

http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org ... ?Ref=10251

Three out of four axleboxes are NER, and the remaining one is LNER. Some other bits aren't quite right though - the end stanchions are metal, not the longer, chunkier wooden ones seen on V4's, additionally the exterior side planking reaches down further than usual on V4's (also the ducket is gone), however with the lack of ducket as well this could be a later change after it was sold to the Ashington system. Additionally the planking on the ends is horizontal when it's usually vertical. Any thoughts? There's no sign of numbers etc and the plate has gone, however it does have the number 665 on the other side from the picture on the webpage presumably from Ashington days

[65447]

It certainly appears to have many of the characteristics. The end verandahs of the V4 had wide horizontal planking to the inside and narrow vertical planking to the outside ends, so not too amiss there as clearly repairs have been made to replace the timber stanchions with steel angle - a common form of repair started by the LNER - whilst the longer boarding on the sides of the cabin could well be the result of re-cladding when the deep ducket was removed - there's no sign of a central patch. The ironwork looks right. 665 is not a number listed in the Ian G Sadler book but could be a local re-numbering.