I guess whether you sweat small details depends on the intended purpose of your modelling. If the object of the exercise is to produce a perfect representation of a real place and time, with all vehicles representing a prototype which actually existed, it matters. If, like me, the aim is more towards creating an impression of a railway, much of which is fictional anyway, if your variant of a vehicle is, at least, plausible, and is not actually in direct contradiction with available historical records, it probably doesn't. Or, at least, the extent to which it matters is up to the individual. Considering how long was the working life of most railway equipment and how many different repair shops were involved in its maintenance, what is plausible in any given wagon type can be pretty broad.
Mind you, given that my original efforts in 0 gauge were heavily reliant on the products of Triang, Lima and even some repainted Hornby tinplate, maybe I'm not as discriminating as I should be . That said, I am going to try and make my Y7 a reasonable representation of members of the class which ran on the North Sunderland Railway so it won't be going together quite as supplied.