This morning I detected the first of five house sites that I recently received permission from the property owner to hunt, they all date from 1850 - 1890. The houses are all located within a one-block radius of each other here in 'small town' Ontario. I found out this building was used from 1920 - 1940 to house the crews working on the CNR, which passes within 1/4mi of here. The house is still in use as a boarding house, although the people who rent here now are obviously not as well off as the railway workers must have been.
Surprisingly the only area to detect here was the front yard, most of which was made up of heavy gravel. I only found a couple of modern pennies, the earliest being a 1927 'Wheatie'. Detecting close to the front porch I found the one and only 'keeper' of the day... a Red Caboose! Now how fitting a find is that for this site!
Inside the body, it is stamped 'Made in Canada' London ON and has the number '417' on the outside, my online research turned up nothing. Thanks for looking,
Dave
PS. It has come to my attention that this caboose was likely made by the Webster Brothers in London, ON
"The Webster Brothers, of London, Ontario, were the manufacturers of the “Londontoy” line of small cast metal vehicles, which included a line of wartime vehicles and play sets. Toys that were already in production in peace-time were given new military paint schemes. Beverage trucks became army trucks towing cannons and delivery trucks became military ambulances. Small die-cast cars and trucks were made by London toy beginning in the 1940’s. Their cars, pick-up trucks, beverage trucks, and buses came in two sizes and several colours and were offered as part of different sets including a gas station and airport. Truly Canadian toys, that is, toys designed, manufactured and sold in Canada, whose design is based on Canadian vehicles or other subjects, that were also designed and manufactured in Canada, are rare. One example of this sort of toy is the Reliable Toy Company’s plastic Avro "Canuck" jet fighter of 1955. Others are the various "CPR" and "CNR" trains, from the cast-iron floor trains of the early 1900s to the 1950s ride-on trains."
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