Beeching Plan Slashes England's Railroad Service
Editor s note: America's
railroads have been in trouble
for years, particularly the
commuter lines. One proposed
solution has been the nation
alization of the railroads. The
British railroad system has
been nationalized (or 15 years
and is still in trouble. Here is
a report on what's been happening.
By DANIEL F. GILMORE
United Press International
London -1UPI1- Britain is tak
ing about as sharp a scalpel to
its railroad system as probably
any nation ever has attempt
ed. Roughly speaking, it plans
to cut the world's most com
prehensive network of rail
services in half.
Why?
The answer is money. The
country cannot afford the lux
ury of a system in which by
its own figures half the rail
way track-17,800 route miles
-carries less than eight per
cent of the combined freight
and passenger traffic, and a
third of its depots do practi
cally no business.
In 1961. British railways
lost 150 million pounds ($420
million), about the same last
year, and over-all they arc
more than 1 billion pounds
($2.8 billion) in debt. On top
of that the government has
1 spent another billion pounds
I on modernization in the last
j ten years, with no really no
I ticeable effect.
For as long as anyone can
remember the railroads here
have fought a losing battle to
make money, or just break
even. They were deeply in fi
nancial trouble when the La
bor government nationalized
them in 1948 and have been
getting in deeper ever since.
In 1948 a central railway
executive was named to run
the newly nationalized rail
system. When the executive
did not immediately provide
a magic solution to the rail
roads' ills (they had been los
ing money under private own
ership, too) there were charges
of government meddling, po
litical ineptitude.
In 1953 the Conservative
government replaced the rail
way executive with the Brit
ish Tran s p o r t Commission.
There were six rail "regions"
and each had its own general
manager, its own "establishment."
Serrice Down
And still the railroads lost J
money and service deterior
ated. In 1981. still losing millions
and still satisfying practically
no one with the over-all serv
ice, the government took the
first step toward the present
drastic attempt to cut losses
and put the system on a pay
ing or break-even basis and
improve those services that
survive the economics, includ
ing the over-crowded com
muter lines.
A business man, round
faced, balding Dr. Richard
Beeching, technical director
of imperial chemical indus
tries (ICI) was hired at the
highest civil servant salary
ever, 24.000 pounds or $67,200
a year, to "put the railroads
on a business basis."
Ever since, Beeching has
had the railroads under an ac
countant's eye and last March
27 he produced his remedies
in a 148-page report that was
a shocker. "Slasher Beeching"
one newspaper called him.
"Becching's Battlcax" head
lined another. His main pro
posals hit rail services in
every part of the country but
hardest at Wales. Scotland,
Northern England, small
towns everywhere and scores
of coastal resorts.
Under the Beeching plan
now before parliament for ap
proval, t h c reorganization
would among other things:
-Close 2.363 stations out of
4.709.
-Withdraw service from
5,000 existing route miles of
the 17.800 total.
-Discontinue many if not
most "stopping services" at
points where trains can be
flagged down for passengers
-Coordinate commuter serv
ices in eight major cities out
side Londan.
-Raise fares.
-Establish new mainline
trains and services for both
freight and passenger traffic.
Under his program. Beech
ing says, the railroads should
be "almost" paying for them
selves by 1970.
Railroad workers were the
first to raise cries of alarm
School Friends Strike It Rich With Claves Kit
They'll Do It Every Time .n, By Jimmy Hatlo
In those slick, nifty home
magazines the child's room is
depicted oh 50 pretty and neat-
But how about vour kid's room
and my kid's room and the
ma6a2ine editors kid's room ??
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
United Press International
New York-IUPI-Sipping cof
fee in the kitchen one day,
two "beat" women picked up
sticks and clicked them in a
bossa nova rhythm.
Then they clucked about
how the sticks - claves used
by Latin dancers to beat out
rhythms - could make their
silent cash registers ring.
Claire Goodman, and Fran
Weilzner, school friends who
engage in oddment ventures
with an eye to striking it
real rich, hit simultaneously
on the modus operandi: invent
a bossa nova kit.
In it put a record - bossa
nova instruction on one side;
bossa nova tunes on the flip
side; two claves and other
accessories for the do-it-myself
bossa nova fan
But the two rover girls for
merly of Abraham Lincoln
High school in Brooklyn,
N.Y.. given for several years
lo trying get-rich ventures,
knew not a nil about how
to knit their idea into action.
Ignorance Payi
Ignorance being a good
launching pad, as they figured
it, the two Long Island, N.Y.,
matrons barged into record
company offices to learn how
one goes about getting into
the record business.
"The best way to get into
the record business is-don't,"
they were told.
That sparked their interest.
After all, as their past ad
ventures proved, ignorance
matters not if you're really
determined to tackle the un
known - especially if you for-
for Easter and After...
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tify yourself by cogitating
over coffee in the kitchen and
never say die.
Their joint ventures of the
last several years were in
fields foreign to them.
They failed in the private
eye business. Their next ven
ture, car salvage business,
moved along on flat tires
from the start and eventually
made them poorer.
Many Failures
Their soupetcria - a United
Nations of soup kitchen-show
ed some chance of boiling
over into riches at si a bowl.
But soon as it simmered to
ward the profit-making mar
gin, the landlord comman
deered the souproom for an
other purpose.
"We clicked the claves in
the kitchen that day in De
cember," Mrs. Weilzner re
called. "And somehow we
could hear our ship, coming
in finally - even if it' sounded
like the click of a train's
wheels, it was a ship."
I he two matrons said mon
ey in the private eye business
was good, but they just didn't
have the stomach - er, heart
to succeed.
"Our first assignment."
Mrs. Goodman said, "was to
squeal on a gal who was hav
ing cocktails with a gentle
man, unrelated to her by mar
riage. Didn't Snitch
After watching for 20 min
utes, we found we couldn't
snitch. We turned in our
badges."
The car salvage business
blow its gasket when the
partners bought and resold
their first car - a sentimental
heap abandoned in a falling
down garage.
"Several days after the
sale," Mrs Goodman said,
"the buyer came to U9 and
fumed - no motor."
"Imagine how embarrass
ing? We had to give the man
back his $10."
Two months after the kitch
en session with the magic
claves the ambitious matrons
tip-toed into the record busi
ness - producing a "Magic
Claves Bossa Nova Kit."
The kit with claves, record
and instructions did well In
tests in New York fivc-and-tens.
(And why not? The
"rover girls" helped to put
on demonstrations.)
Big Money
Recently the two were of
fered $50,000 for their record
company and kit - "The Magic
Claves Beat for the Easy-Does-It
Bossa Nova."
"But we've never been
closer lo our dream of mak
ing a million," Mrs. Goodman
said "We're going to hold
onto our Claves Beat Record
Ltd. - the corporate name for
what we're doing."
Why arc they doing it? Why
do they want a million when
each has a husband with sub
stantial income?
"We have good minds and
it's a shame to waste talents,
that's why," Mrs. Weilzner,
mother of two, said.
"Why do we want a mil
lion?," Mrs. Goodman, moth
er of one, asked.
She answered by asking an
other question:
"Why did Columbus want
to discover America?"
against the plan. Of approxi
mately 474,000 railroad em
ployecs. it is estimated 70,000
will lose their jobs. Beeching
and his advisers claim firings
may not be necessary and that
by 1970 attrition will have
brought the necessary reduc
tions. Another problem sure to
come under heavy debate is
how the country's already in
adequate highway system Is
going to absorb the increased
traffic that will be thrown on
the roads as rail services di
minish. There arc 195,217
miles of public road in Brit
ain with a good half the total
little more than widened
country lanes.
Walt 3 Years
As the government brought
the railroad program to parli
ament, spokesmen were say
ing three years was the target
time for putting the Beeching
Plan into effect, and to carry
out even more economy plans
than have yet been made pub
lic. Most observers agree the
controversy will be great and
could become an issue In the
next general election. Beech
ing himself anticipates that
one of the strongest things he
will have to fight is the coun
try's traditional resistance to
change.
"There is no sadder or more
frequent obituary on the pages
of time," he is reported to
feel, "than 'we have always
done it this way'."
Slt l 1UK g x rAuGS 1 SO
MEDFORDaWTRIBUNE
PAGES 1 to 10
MEDFORD. OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 11. 1963
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Firms Turned
Away Irom Talks
With OSU Seniors
Corvallis-For the first time.
Oregon State university's
school of engineering is turn
ing away companies which
had planned to send represen
tatives to the campus for in
terviews with graduating seniors.
The reason is there simply
arc not enough graduates in
terested in more interviews to
make it worthwhile for the
companies, according to Dean
George Glceson.
The average OSU engineer
ing senior already has taken
approximately eight job in
terviews this year, Glceson
pointed out. Some 200 engi
neering companies, govern
mental agencies and research
organizations came lo the
campus for job talks with the
June graduates.
Many of the seniors already
have accepted jobs; others
have definite plans to go on
for graduate study or go into
the service.
Graduaic About 230
Oregon State will graduate
about 230 engineers this June
but could place three or four
times that many in good jobs,
Glceson emphasized. The need
for trained engineers is in
creasing every year, but the
number of students in engi
neering is down in some parts
of the nation and barely up
from a year ago on the West
Coast.
Starting salary for this
year's engineering graduate
will be about S58B compared
to $572 a year ago, Glceson
said. Master's degree gradu
ates will start about S645 and
doctor's degree graduates at
U.S875 up.
Starling salaries tor engi
neers have increased 70 per
cent in the last 10 years, the
engineering leader said.
Thr, rimn in pnnineerinff cn-
I rollmcnts is cause for real con
cern to engineering deans
across the nation, Glceson
said. Scientific and technolog
ical advances are greatly in
creasing the need for trained
engineers.
OSU was one of Ihc few
engineering schools in the na
tion to show undergraduate
enrollment increases in 1961
land 1962. Last fall's enroll
ment was 1.710, a 10 per cent
increase. OSU and most other
schools show sizeable in
creases in the number of en
gineering students working
lor advanced degrees.
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