There's so much sentimentalism about rolling stock that one remembers from younger years. In my earlier days I had years of travelling on the ac equivalents of EPBs. So to compare with modern stock that runs the same services, the old'uns don't come out very well:
The windows, usually single glazed with wood fram liners were normally quite disgusting by modern standards. The condensation would soon damage the varnish coating on the wood when it became coated with a caked ash, dust and other passenger detritis. The drain at the bottom would often clog up causing dirty condensate to flow over and into the side padding, i.e. at upper arm's height.
The slam door locks would become slack such that the seals would no longer keep cold air and brake dust out. There would be bangs as the pressure wave from passing trains pressed the loose-fitting door into its frame. The drop windows would sometimes sieze closed or open or even not stay put closed. The locks would sometimes be too stiff to open from the inside lever, - seemingly when the drop window was siezed closed making getting out difficult.
The seats might give an illusion of cleanliness, but sitting down would force years of dust through the covers into the compartment. If you sat down very carefully to prevent this, as soon as the train started bouncing across points or on jointed track, the dust would be pumped out as all the passengers bounced in sympathetic motion. Sometimes, the ride would be so bad that the desgned-in travel together with the gradual collapse of the padding would make the seats bottom, - very uncomfortable.
Lighting was poor, - usually 2 x 40 or 60W tungsten lights set into the cream painted ceiling. There were no portable reading devices then (e.g. mobile phones or tablets), so many in the winter needed to carry a torch to read small newsprint.
Cooling was OK except that it would involve a dust-laden warm air blast in the summer (if the windows were working OK) and in the winter the heating bars under the seats would help create an airless fug that some passengers wouldn't approve of window ventilation removing anyway.
That's my memories of outer suburban commuting. All of that was in trains with a maximum speed of 75mph. Compare that with a 100mph MKIII sliding door EMU (say 321) with hopper windows, double glazing, firmer but generally cleaner seating, on board toilets, better lighting etc., forgetting the romance of deep springy seats poor lighting and poor temperature control. It's all relative to what we are used to, not what we remember through the mist of nostalgia.
This was not long before it was scrapped.
