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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 !
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