Post by sp4009 on Jan 4, 2009 4:56:02 GMT -5
Does anyone else on this board have some of Don's notebooks?
For those of you that do not know of Donald Sease, he was quite an interesting man, with a nick name of "Numbers." He spent nearly 40 years, until his death(2004???) spotting trains in Ventura. He recorded nearly every train he saw in small, 3" X 5" notebooks. He could recollect engine numbers from long ago. I spent many hours listening to his tales, growing up along the Northern Pacific in the 1930's and '40s. He told of trains from times past by engine number, locomotive class and train number. Even describing the sounds and smells of steam engines. Later in life, while talking on the telephone, he was known to drop the receiver and run outside to catch a glimpse of a train without saying a word to the caller. He spent nearly every day, from sunrise to sunset, staged next to the mainline with pen and notebook in his pocket.
After his death, friends cleaned out his apartment and his vast collection of notebooks( several thousand starting in the late '60s) were distributed amongst Espee fans. I have the pleasure of owning Don's notebook covering 09/06/69 - 09/23/69. Included in his transcriptions are train symbols, engine numbers, models, total horsepower, caboose number, number of cars, date and time spotted and anything about the train that peaked his interest.
I hope that one day this information can be collected and shared amongst us Espee fans. I feel this is very valuable information about day-to-day coast line operations. I plan to scan the notebook I have in the near future, and hope others whom possess Don's notebooks will do the same
For those of you that do not know of Donald Sease, he was quite an interesting man, with a nick name of "Numbers." He spent nearly 40 years, until his death(2004???) spotting trains in Ventura. He recorded nearly every train he saw in small, 3" X 5" notebooks. He could recollect engine numbers from long ago. I spent many hours listening to his tales, growing up along the Northern Pacific in the 1930's and '40s. He told of trains from times past by engine number, locomotive class and train number. Even describing the sounds and smells of steam engines. Later in life, while talking on the telephone, he was known to drop the receiver and run outside to catch a glimpse of a train without saying a word to the caller. He spent nearly every day, from sunrise to sunset, staged next to the mainline with pen and notebook in his pocket.
After his death, friends cleaned out his apartment and his vast collection of notebooks( several thousand starting in the late '60s) were distributed amongst Espee fans. I have the pleasure of owning Don's notebook covering 09/06/69 - 09/23/69. Included in his transcriptions are train symbols, engine numbers, models, total horsepower, caboose number, number of cars, date and time spotted and anything about the train that peaked his interest.
I hope that one day this information can be collected and shared amongst us Espee fans. I feel this is very valuable information about day-to-day coast line operations. I plan to scan the notebook I have in the near future, and hope others whom possess Don's notebooks will do the same
