Some of the older Raleighs used the same caliper with the brace and before Kool Stops you could fit Fibrax brake pads which are still available... they do squeal more when they are dry and are designed for wet weather braking with steel rims.
My daughter's R20 has vintage Matthauser "Super Brake" pads installed on it's steel calipers (British 451 equipped models used these) and the braking is very good in all conditions.... she is 1/3 my size but can cruise along at 15-20 kmh and sprints up to 30 kmh and the braking is more than adequate.
With the export version and it's alloy calipers the braking is barely passable with Kool Stops and an alloy front wheel as I have set up on my R20 and will be adding V-brakes in the near future.