Don't Raleighs have wider than usual bottom bracket shells? With that in mind, I'll speculate that's what we're talking about here.

Cotterless spindles for Raleigh shells do exist, but they were never common and have become prohibitively hard to find. You can cut the shell down and tap the threads to standard (Raleigh shells are not standard) and go cotterless, but when you add up all the work involved, cottered cranks become pretty attractive.