General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

2

Total Parts

3

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Tin

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

18.4 cm

Width

28.3 cm

Height

5.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Domestic Technology

Category

Food service

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

Taken from acquisition worksheet: "In the 1950s, Canadian railways employed over 181,600 people. Of these, about 13 percent or 23,600, on average, would have been road service or running trades employees. All of these workers had to bid on assignments based on their qualifications, seniority and availability. They worked shifts that often included overnight stays at stations away from their home yards. Since accommodation and services at train yards were spartan at best and railway pay was far from generous, running trades workers carried their own food. On overnight trips, they needed enough to last for the better part of two days. As an artifact, this lunch pail represents a small part of the daily life of a member of a train crew. Duncan du Fresne was a fireman who worked for CP and this lunch pail was an essential piece of his personal equipment whenever he had a layover assignment. His wife Joyce, would pack it with food like canned pork and beans or homemade beef stew topped with mashed potatoes in a glass jar. He and other engine crew would re-heat their food by wrapping it in cotton waste, puncturing the can or loosening the lid of the jar and setting it on the boiler back head. His lunch pail also often included buttered bread and a couple of eggs with bacon for breakfast. His layover passenger trips tended to be in places like Waltham or Maniwaki but he might also overnight on a freight assignment. On turnaround trips from Ottawa to Montreal or Chalk River, he carried a lighter lunch."

Function

Used to store, protect and transport a limited quantity of food and/or beverages, for use by an individual. This pail carried enough food for two days.

Technical

Taken from acquisition worksheet: "This lunch pail appears to be homemade; its construction is very basic and it has no manufacturers’ or other markings on it. It is very similar to one we already have in the collection (2000.0053) which also appears to be homemade. It seems as if there might have been a standard pattern for these types of lunch boxes, perhaps to accommodate particular types of containers. They are so basic in construction that they could easily have been made in a home workshop. This lunch pail belonged to Duncan de Fresne, who worked as a fireman for Canadian Pacific in the 1950s. It is typical of those used by railway workers in Canada and North America throughout the first half of the 20th century. Road service or running trades workers like conductors, engineers, firemen and trainmen/brakemen, (plus porters, stewards, kitchen staff on passenger trains) would use large lunch boxes for overnight trips. A pail like this carried enough food for two days."

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

None apparent.

Missing

None apparent

Finish

Dull tin metal with soldered joints.

Decoration

N/A