310 electric units.
 

Does anyone remember the 310 units that ran on the Euston - Bletchley- Northampton - Birmingham locals in the eighties and early nineties ?
They were slam door stock.

Are there any that have been preserved or indeed still running about ?

48111

They had a decent acceleration and were pretty reliable. I only ever had a couple of complete failures with them. Don't think any made it into preservation tho'.

Class 310 is one that "Got Away", there are a couple of class 309 units at Coventry Railway Centre, (On the edge of the Airport) and a couple of coaches from a class 311 at Coatbridge, Scotland, but nothing from class 310 at all. Service wise they were in the 1998 book but had all gone when the 2002 book was published.

Regards, 62440.

Otherwise known as AM10 when I was a lad (showing my age), they were pretty good. Not many seem interested in preserving electric units, probably because you cant run them under their own power on a heritage railway.

I remember them around Birmingham. I liked the fact that there was a sort of compartment in them.
Richard

I have a picture of the last class 310 through Crewe - think it dates from 2000 and was a Liverpool - Birmingham train

Will post it when I get a chance

Here's one I took at Birmingham in 1984 http://www.railwayforum.net/gallery/...imageuser=2802

Regards, 62440.

I never "signed" those, so never worked any, but I do remember them very well, it is a pity there has none been saved.

48111

When I worked on EMUs my favourite were 312s on Clacton Services. On their transfer to the ER I thought the 310 would be a slightly older variation. Not a bit of it the 310 had a terrible brake and stopping where you intended was a lottery. Ist prize for my worst unit!

I do remember on a wet or damp rail they would slide easily. Mind you as I said not driving them I dont really know about the workings of them.
Perhaps our Bletchley member can throw some light on the braking system and how good or bad it was.

48111

That's before the unit ends were rebuilt

I worked on them as a Guard, but between Liverpool Street and Cambridge back in the 1990's.

Now posted the photo of the last 310 unit at Crewe onto my website

http://martin-grosberg.fotopic.net/p65868390.html

Photo file was dated 29/03/00, but I'm not sure if that is the date of the train or not.

Smashing photo mate, thanks for letting us see it.

48111

Thats interesting, I used to travel to work on the 312s when they were new and thought they were a copy of the 310s but obviously not.

Okay, the brakes were perfectly alright on the West Coast side. Like all brakes you didn't take liberties with them. They ran from the 60's until the 80's over here, and I don't recall any major problems with the brakes. Though someone will probably know better.
As for the 312's, there were four based at Bletchley for the West Midlands area. They were restricted to 75 mph to match the 310's and coud run in multiple with them. I remember a 310 was fitted with a 312 motor coach and ran trials between Rugby and Coventry at 90mph. Bletchley driver Norman Jeffcoate (sadly no longer with us) was the driver. Which reminds me of when 4472 Flying Scotsman was at Bletchley in 1974, Norman was the fireman on it to Oxford. Got a get well soon card from his former colleagues at Watford as a result!

310 units
 

Always liked these units used to ride on them from Tring very comfortable for a journey to Birmingham via Nortampton.Pity designers today cant match seat comfort and space when unleashing new units on us.

Superficially they looked alike but I will stand to be corrected. I think it was down to the set up of the brakes. I'm trying to recall and I think the difference was the 312 had disc brakes mounted on the wheels and the 310 had a Brake Disc arrangement mounted on the axle. I can only judge from a Drivers point of view on converting to 310s on their transfer to the Eastern Region. The 310 was I'm sure good in their day but the 312 was improving on the design with the benefits of service and time. The 312 had a hydraulic parking brake which was a modern development for instance.

Hello mate,did you know Bletchley drivers, Bill Tew and Billy Biggs ?

Both sadly no longer with us.

Both good mates of mine.

48111

Yeah, knew both very well. Bill Tew once bought in tea bags that were so weak, it took double the normal amount to make a pot of tea. As an aside, in those days, if you were on your break, or spare, you made a pot of tea, and everyone else helped themselves.
Billy Biggs, or chunky as he was usually known was always an excellent mate to be with. He never let the secondman drive, but was nevertheless a good mate. I was born, and lived a few doors down from Billy Biggs.

I remember then well , they could slide a bit but nowhere near as bad as their replacements the class 317 . There were 2 braking systems , an ep system which was used 99 % of the time and and an auto system which reduced the train pipe to apply the brake but had tripple valves so each succesive application the brake retardation was less !! They would get away quite well on a poor rail as you could 'notch' up between the positions on the power controller . Very reliable and well built . Part of one set was used by Hitatchi to trial power equipment for new high speed trains but these cars have probably been scrapped now . We also had 4 x 312 units based at Bletchley for the west mids trains , if I remember right they were 90 mph and one was painted yellow !

I think the West Midlands 312s were limited to 75mph. The eastern region ones were 90mph. Possibly due to different gearing.

Both the 310s and 312s were good trains but a bit spartan inside and the seats didn't seem to have been designed with the human frame in mind. I always preferred the 309s which were infinitely comfier, apart from the ride at speed which was something else.