Class 312 Slam door Stock on the Clacton Branch in 1997 & 2000

[@bentaylor5508]

I do miss these they were comfortable and warm in winter times

[@barttheanorak]

You know I never thought I'd find myself missing the 312s - especially that lovely whistling noise they made as they approached at speed.

[@9tigertankrhys]

great footage ,very hard to find videos of class 312's i allways remember travelling down to walton on the nase,great times

[@rml2589]

Excellent footage!!! had completely forgotten some of those units made it into the First Great Eastern era.

[@MetroTitanD78]

I loved these units when they ran on the LTS (now C2C). Only thing i could fault with this fine video is that you didn't keep a few seconds of these units ticking over whilst stopped...what a great sound that was.

[@Krizar]

I used to love leaning out of the window of a 312 when I was younger from Thorpe-le-Soken to Walton-on-the-Naze, shame most of them have now been scrapped

[@williamwebb6178]

The Last Class 312 was withdrawn from the East Anglia on 25th June 2004 & replaced Class 360 Desiro which was built between 2002-2003. I remember seeing the Class 312s I never been on them.

[@daveattrill2712]

Great motor volume - I never saw one of these or the 310s in person but the only EMUs I know to be as loud are the class 321, plus the 508 and certain slam door southeastern ones. I have lived in Sheffield since the age of 7 but have ventured to electrified railway turns further afield from my late teens onwards, sometimes especially to ride these sorts of trains.

[@EM-yk1dw]

Had some very fast runs on these excellent and comfortable EMU stalwarts on the Great Northern. I was also on the farewell tour too.

[@prof.hectorholbrook4692]

Brilliant trains. Proper trains.

[@Tepic]

That brought back some memories.

[@86501freightliner]

I had many childhood memories with these units. They still had years of life left in them when widthdrawn (in fact, some of the 313's are older). I also think that these are in many ways more comfier than the 360s that replace them! (and more characteristic).

[@chrishare9179]

Used to travel to school in Colchester every day on these and also the class that they replaced....but can`t remember what class that was. Full of chain smoking London bound commuters :)

[@AdnamsBrewery]

Superb stuff. Great units that would have gone on and on.

[@flowergirl8815]

ah brings back memories when train travel was cheap. Not like now

[@bwarrrrk]

much better condition then the current 360s prefer these to 360s any day

[@nobby3265]

Thanks a lot Thatcher for messing about with our railways! If it wasn't for you then these would still be running today.

[@Keithbarber]

I'm surprised that in 3 years nobody has pointed out that Thatcher left office in 1990, and it was john major who privatised the railways in 1994, so you cannot blame Thatcher for the railways In fact she was reluctant to do so

[@joecurly3637]

Thatcher was actually the 1 who devised the idea, then Major and Blair implemented it, followed by successive governments keeping it privatised.

[@wpinklady]

I love train vids!!

[@stephendines1936]

310 and 312 Units were the best ever built.

[@111672balernabz2010]

Pure class proper slam door stock emu units all plastic nowadays.

[@Keithbarber]

They are all made out of metal

[@joecurly3637]

Plastic is an insult for something of poor/inferior quality.

[@NoddyMaccy]

I remember these bad boys!

[@86501freightliner]

Finest units in Britain!

[@spark001uk]

Haha who threw that magazine at 1:10 ?!!

[@larasheart6579]

Were these trains gangway fitted when built

[@TrainBusFanUK]

Yes

[@timhubbard8895]

Listen at 2:10. Woof! Woof! "Shut up!"

[@waleedarif6740]

My best friends! 🥲

[@390h8er]

We had a few of these around Birmingham till about 1997-98 (I think). Excellent units. Such a shame they went for scrap just because they were slam-door, they had a good 5-10 years left in them. EU and 'elf & safety' b***s**t no doubt!

[@antfrench5655]

Agreed, great units! Actually their demise was thanks to the DDA and the Health and Safety Executive, not the result of EU law. It's still possible to use slam door-style units and non-'disability friendly' trains in other parts of Europe. There were a couple of nasty accidents too if I remember correctly where the inability to centrally lock meant more people were injured than necessary, so the HSE recommended replacing them.

[@jaygordon6229]

lovely trains all scrapped before their time thanks to eu regulations and not a single 4car unit saved shambolic!

[@JackFitzsimmonsZondaFan]

In the words of James May "Good news!" There's a class 312 unit that's at the Colne Valley railway in Castle Hedingham, Halstead, it's in the Network South East livery as well, hope this is helpful to you :-).

[@JackFitzsimmonsZondaFan]

I don't know how many coaches it has though.

[@joecurly3637]

I'm pretty certain that it was UK regulations that outlawed slam-door units, not the EU, as certain EU countries allow slam-door trains. Half of 312792 is the preserved example and is the only survivor from the MK2 bodyshell based EMU family.