Western Magic
New Member
I trained on these in 1984 and the main differences were, 312 were ganwayed through, 310 were in 2 groups of 2 (Toilet access?) 312 had brake disc on the wheels and not inboard discs, this gave 312 a bit more assured braking, 312 had a hydraulic parking brake as against manual wheels, and the circuit brakers for the EP brake were arranged differntly, if I remember correctly a 312 was stopped by AWS brake application when EP failed, on a 310 nothing happened!
In my time 312's were fully occupied between New St and Coventry/Wolverhampton/Walsall working out of Soho CS, it was quite rare to see one at Rugby and other than ECS to Bletchley I never saw one south of Rugby-not saying it didn't happen, obviously I wasn't there 24/7, just never saw it. I did have a 304 in and out of Euston once and they were supposedly banned in passenger use south of Northampton! Crews south of Rugby not trained on 304 and i think only Bletchley on 312, so both types unable to interwork and any appearance very exceptional.
When the Trent Valley service was mostly DMU, the last up local was booked 2x304, one night at Stafford one came in as a 310, the other as a 303! Half a trian slam doors, half sliding, did this happen anywhere else?? I think we never saw a303 on the TV locals ever again, super units, quick getaway and stop on a sixpence, dont get me started on those 310 brakes....
In my time 312's were fully occupied between New St and Coventry/Wolverhampton/Walsall working out of Soho CS, it was quite rare to see one at Rugby and other than ECS to Bletchley I never saw one south of Rugby-not saying it didn't happen, obviously I wasn't there 24/7, just never saw it. I did have a 304 in and out of Euston once and they were supposedly banned in passenger use south of Northampton! Crews south of Rugby not trained on 304 and i think only Bletchley on 312, so both types unable to interwork and any appearance very exceptional.
When the Trent Valley service was mostly DMU, the last up local was booked 2x304, one night at Stafford one came in as a 310, the other as a 303! Half a trian slam doors, half sliding, did this happen anywhere else?? I think we never saw a303 on the TV locals ever again, super units, quick getaway and stop on a sixpence, dont get me started on those 310 brakes....