Ben Biaggini was behind the Eight Ball in several ways. He had BIG shoes to fill ( Donald J. Russell ), and looked bad by simple comparison to the legend of Russell. Biaggini also had the unfortunate timing to become Espee's boss during a time of diminishing carloads from the Oregon Forests, retrenchment of Auto Assembly plants on the West Coast in the face of rising competition from Japanese manufacturers, and as noted high interest rates, inflation, and a generally weak economy. The completion of the Interstate Highway network, and the I.C.C.'s decision to deregulate the trucking industry ( while refusing railroad rate decreases to try & compete ) also impacted the carload perishables business ( PFE ), and hurt the carload canned goods business as well. Espee was also overbuilt, yet found much resistance to secondary & branchline abandonments, especially from Cal - PUC.