Foma:52 – Week 31 – The Swiss Connection

It's been a hot minute since I had a chance to hang out with following historical reenactors in any major way. But this week, it's a little different from my usual War of 1812/Napoleonic event. We've skipped ahead one hundred years and into the Great War. I had a chance to head out to The Hex, a small farm in rural Milton, for an event with a World War 1 unit representing a Swiss Regiment that defended the country's border and helped maintain their neutrality during the conflict.

Members of the 11th Swiss Rifles manning their replica Maschinengewehr Modell 1900 (MG00) a Heavy Machine Gun, this one isn't real but it does 'shoot' using a propane driver.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 105mm 1:2.5 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Ilford Microphen (1+1) 9:00 @ 20C

During my time at school, World War One fell into my Grade 10 history class in a course called "Canada in the XX Century", but like many high school history courses, not everything can be taught, and the focus remained on Canada. And while Switzerland was mentioned, it was only in passing as a neutral nation. But as someone who loves to learn and hear those stories, being able to sit and listen to what actually happened in Switzerland during World War One was a true privilege. The modern Swiss Army traces itself to 1907, and by 1911 further modernization, standardization, and expansion resulted in an army of 250,000 with an additional 200,000 in supporting roles. While some felt that the Swiss would join the war on the side of Germany, they maintained their neutrality when war was declared in 1914, but it wasn't passive neutrality but armed neutrality. On 1 August 1914, troops were deployed along the border. Switzerland shared borders with France, Germany, Austria and Italy. The German's Schlieffen Plan included an option to invade France through Switzerland to outflank French border forts. Mountainous terrain and the well organized Swiss Army saw the Germans invade through a far easier and less organized Belgium. By 7 August, General Ulrich Wille had some 220,000 troops under his command and positioned mainly along the French border at Jura and south in the Unterengadin Valley and Val Müstair. The numbers varied throughout the war based on temperament and threat to Swiss neutrality, and during the war, some 1,000 incursions and fighting did take place in Swiss territory. Mis-Aimed artillery would hit and destroy a Swiss Chalet, and the Austrians who had fired the shells ended up paying for reconstruction. But one of the biggest involvement of the Swiss government during the war was the internment program. Proposed in the first year of the war and implemented a year later, governments would allow wounded prisoners of war who met certain criteria to be interned in Switzerland, where the soldier's nation would pay for their support. At the same time, they received better treatment and medical treatment that could not be provided in POW camps in England and France. Prisoners received food, shelter and would spend time working and could even attend courses at University. Ultimately some 68,000 prisoners would be interned in Switzerland, many returned home, but some had met and married Swiss citizens and ended up resettling in the country after the war, especially if they had fathered children.

Enjoying a morning cigar a typical rifleman from the 11th Swiss Rifles.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 105mm 1:2.5 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Ilford Microphen (1+1) 9:00 @ 20CA private enjoying a morning pipe from the Canadian Cyclist Corps in WW1.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 105mm 1:2.5 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Ilford Microphen (1+1) 9:00 @ 20C

So far, with this project, the inclusion of people has been a single person, my amazing wife, Heather. Mainly because most people consciously or unconsciously are avoiding people these days, and most of the subjects I've been picking have been places. But given that this week I'm at a reenactment event, I made a point to focus on people more than things, and while I did get some still life around the camp, I decided to include people only in today's post. The reason being is that after a year and a half of not seeing many people, especially friends both old and new, I figured it would make for a stronger connection. And also from a historical and contextual standpoint. It's easy to study histories and wars when names of places, weapons, dates and numbers. But there were always people involved; many survived physically, many did not survive mentally and even more didn't survive. This is why I focused on the people who portray and make a point to make those portrayals as accurate as possible.

Ready for combat, while most cyclists would act as messangers, several rode into combat.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 105mm 1:2.5 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Ilford Microphen (1+1) 9:00 @ 20CA member of the PPCLI and a Strecher Bearer taking up position to defend the moving machine gun crew.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 105mm 1:2.5 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Ilford Microphen (1+1) 9:00 @ 20C

Given that my focus was mainly on people, I wanted to approach things from a 'street' frame of mind, so I ditched the idea of bringing multiple lenses and went with only a single lens, the iconic Nikkor 105mm f/2.5. To help myself, I did my best to shoot between f/2.5 and f/8 to help keep that shutter speed at 1/125″ or faster. After last week's use of Microphen, rather than let another bottle of chemistry sit around forever, I again when with a 1+1 dilution mainly because I enjoy the look that the film at ASA-100 and the developer gives. And it gave off a wonderfully classic look to the film even though 35mm had not yet become a popular format in the still photography realm but did exist in WW1 mainly for motion picture work. Still, there were some cameras in existence that used 35mm.

Showing off the detail of a 11th Swiss Rifles Shako, yes those were still a thing in WW1 at least at the beginning.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 105mm 1:2.5 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Ilford Microphen (1+1) 9:00 @ 20CJordan giving a talk on the equipment of a Swiss Rifleman in the War, plus I love the swirlled background with the wide open aperture.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 105mm 1:2.5 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Ilford Microphen (1+1) 9:00 @ 20C

Next week, we're back on the road again and headed back to the urban and checking out another historic village and waterfall; we're going into Smokey Hollow.

#foma52 #11thswissrifles #52rollproject #52foma #canada #canadianhistory #fomapan100 #hextock #ilfordmicrophen #militaryhistory #milton #nikkor #nikonfm #ontario #ppcli #reenactor #thegreatwar #thehex #worldwar1

Foma:52 – Week 29 – Muddy York

There have always been certain locations that have appeared in all my projects; one of them is the city of Toronto. But that's the weird part about running a project that relies on some freedom of movement when that freedom has been curtailed. You often have to find new locations to visit. But it took twenty-nine weeks to make it out into Toronto. But it was a weird way of going into the city. I didn't take public transit, I went early, and I drove in, right into the core of Toronto. Something I don't often do, because well, I don't particularly appreciate driving in Toronto. It's not my favourite thing. But I don't want to take public transit at the moment. So here we are.

The 1892 Gooderham Building, a flatiron building that pre-dates the famous New York City Flatiron.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20C

Some 12,500 years ago, the area we know today as the city of Toronto was covered under a massive ice shelf; as it slowly retreated along with other glaciers, Ontario was formed, including the Great Lakes. Lake Iroquois covered much of the modern downtown of Toronto, up to the end of Spadina Avenue at its northern point. The first humans started arriving in the area some 7,000 years ago; these first peoples followed rivers, lakes, and overland passages that connected Georgian Bay to modern Lake Ontario. The name given to this passage in the Mohawk Language is tkoronto or translated where trees stand in water. The passage became an important part of these indigenous peoples, and by 500CE, some of the first human settlements started appearing. The Anishnabeg constructed small settlements living in the region mainly during the warmer summer months. By 1000CE, the Huron-Wendat began to establish larger walled communities in the region. Six hundred years later, the first Europeans arrived, French fur traders who saw the Toronto Passage as an excellent means to head further north. But they also brought new deadly illnesses and warfare. The Beaver Wars of the mid-1600s saw the Haudenosaunee push north, killing or chasing off the Huron-Wendat people. They would establish two known villages in the area, but by the 1700s, the Anishinabe or Mississaugas had pushed the Haudenosaunee. The French realising the importance of the area established their first fort in 1720. It lasted a decade before being abandoned. A second post, Fort Rouillé, arrived in 1750. During the final days of the French & Indian War, the French abandoned Fort Rouillé, burning it to the ground in 1759.

The former York County Courthouse, Serving in that role from 1852-1900, today it is an entertainment venue.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20C

While the British maintained a small trading relationship with the Mississaugas, they made no major colonial inroads in the region until the American Revolution. Loyalists began flooding north, fleeing from the persecution of their continued loyalty to the British Crown or by choice. Sir John Graves Simcoe, noting that the current capital of Upper Canada at Niagara-On-The-Lake was close to the American border had a new townsite laid out in 1793, seeing the Toronto Passage and a harbour along with a central location in the newly formed province as a solid strategic choice. Simcoe and other colonial authorities had made a dubious treaty with the Mississaugas for this land in 1787 mainly because of the vague indications on the bounds of that purchase. But Simcoe had no problems and began to layout a small townsite, setting aside a large tract for a garrison, establishing a grid street pattern and building a parliament for governing the province. He gave the town the name of York after the Duke of York, the son of King George III and sent members of the Queen's Rangers north, east, and west, cutting new roads to expand the colonial reach. The Toronto Passage would become what we know as Yonge Street today. By 1805 the matter of the Toronto Purchase was settled under Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas. Despite being the capital of Upper Canada, York remained a rough backwater community in greater British North America. The unpaved streets earned it the nickname Muddy York. By 1812 the town had a population of 700 and faced attack twice by American forces in 1813, during the first assault American troops and local prisoners went on a spree of looting and burning. But the town rebuilt, and a third assault was turned back. Through the 1820s and 1830s, waves of immigration swelled the town. It quickly became the economic centre of Upper Canada, and a political powerhouse as a group of men known as the Family Compact could control almost every aspect of the province often for their own gain.

The Toronto Street Post Office, the 7th Post office for the City and opened in 1853, it has also served as a Bank of Canada Building, Government Office, and since then a private building.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20C

By 1834 the town of York incorporated as the City of Toronto and one William Lyon MacKenzie elected the first mayor. MacKenzie was not the best man for the job, often using the power of the office for his own gain; ironically, he spoke out about such abuses of power by the Family Compact. And by 1837, he had whipped up revolution fervour and attempted a violent overthrow and establishment of a Republic in the failed Battle of Montgomery's Tavern and Upper Canada Rebellions. The 1840s saw Toronto shed its colonial mud, installing gas lights, paving streets and installing sanitation systems; it became a major hub for all the colonial railways in the 1850s, with all three major first railways and several smaller operators establishing their own stations at the heart of the historic city. Toronto continued to establish itself as a major industrial and commercial centre through the later half of the 19th Century. And was named the capital of Ontario in 1867 at Canadian Confederation. Further industrial growth came in the early 20th Century with northern expansion and the cheap and readily available hydroelectric power coming out of Niagara Falls. Toronto quickly became Canada's second national metropolis, second only to Montreal. The city's manufacturing core became a key part of Canada's war effort in both the First and Second World Wars. During the middle of the 20th Century, Toronto established its first Subway system to aid in taking pressure off the extensive streetcar network and hit a population of 1,000,000 people. The Metropolitan Toronto Committee under Fredrick Gardener would begin in 1953 to further improve Toronto's transit, parks and road systems, new limited-access expressways planned out and built along, smaller communities were brought into the metropolitan Toronto core by 1967 along with the five outlying boroughs each of which was cities in their own right (save East York) by 1991. In 1998 these were all amalgamated into a single municipal government, as the City of Toronto.

The Cupolia of St. Lawerence Hall, once a major centre in Toronto serving as a market, town and city hall, and today is a commercial and event space.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20CSt. James' Cathedral is one of two cathedrals in Toronto and seat of the Anglican Church in the City.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20C

Like Hamilton, Toronto has enough areas and neighbourhoods to reuse the city again for future weeks. Because I had parked down by Roundhouse Park, I ended up sticking to the old Toronto area, the core of the historic city, going no further north than Queen Street for my photos. However, Toronto is a city that has changed so much since its founding at the tail end of the 18th Century and most of the buildings in this area date to the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. But given that I had some longer text blocks in this post, I allowed myself to pick a could extra images to include to break up the history. So with two extra images to play with, I still found it difficult to pick images, so I ended up ensuring that each image including was a historic structure in the city that survive and date back to the 19th Century and found some level of adaptive reuse and survived the gritty decades of the 20th Century that saw extensive urban renewal through demolition but plenty of renewal through restoration. Buildings like the Gooderham Building, The Toronto Street Post Office, York County Courts. Plus reminders of the city's history with the plaque dedicated to Rebel leaders Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews. The one building I did miss and wish I had remembered at the time is the city's first post office, but I didn't recall it until I was partly home and stuck in traffic on the Don Valley Parkway.

A dark reminder of the Upper Canada Rebellions the spot where two rebel leaders were hanged in 1838, while the true leader, William Lyon MacKenzie would escape the gallows.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20CThe King Edward Hotel, a stunning hotel on King Street with plenty of history!
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20C

I decided to keep it simple; I stuck with tried and true means and equipment this week. I probably should have used my 28mm lens, but having used it for the past couple of weeks, I went with my trusty Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 lens with a yellow-12 filter as the day again was clear and bright. I didn't want anything deep as I had to balance between that filter and have mixed lighting as I went into the streets with the tall buildings of the core. Which certainly helped to play with light and shadow with some interesting contrast throughout all the images. I shot the film at the box speed of ASA-100, and development went with a trusty Adox Rodinal at 1+50 I wanted to bump up that contrast and grain to give a far more gritty appearance.

Always a good spot for a pint and pub fare, the Elephant & Castle on King Street and the former site of Upper Canada College.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20CThe 1892 Confederation Life Building, following the popular Richardson Romanesque style which dominated Toronto Architecture of the decade.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 (Yellow-12) - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox Rodinal (1+50) 9:00 @ 20C

We're heading north to the last bastion of civilization before the wild north of Cottage Country.

#foma52 #52rollproject #52foma #adoxrodinal #architecture #canada #downtown #fomapan100 #historicbuildings #nikkor #nikonfm #oldtoronto #ontario #toronto

Foma:52 – Week 18 – End of Line

![image](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51170785125_18c41bbec4_b.jpg" width=)

It felt good to get up and out of my own little part of the province, and a solid drive (only an hour and a half) put me well outside the paved sections of the Greater Toronto Area to the small community of Palmerston. A community that owes its founding to the railroad, a rarity here in Ontario where most communities were founded along a river, canal, major road, or post-war colonization. While you can walk end-to-end in a short time, there is a lot more to Palmerston than the railroad alone; there is also some medical history to the community that helped defeat a once major illness.

The Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum, originally built by Wellington, Grey & Bruce in 1872, continued operation under three different Railways until the 1980s.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

The earliest European settler in what would become Palmerston dates to 1854, Thomas McDowell. While there would be a small farming settlement with a handful of families, the real growth didn't occur until the 1870s. The main catalyst was the railroad, a rarity in Ontario as most development and settlement took place along rivers, canals, or provincial roads. The opening of the Wellington, Grey, and Bruce Railroad saw construction drive through the small community. McDowell and Thompson, two prominent landowners, began dividing out their land, surveying a townsite and lots with the right-of-way forming the core of the planned community. One of the largest purchasers was Wellington, Grey, and Bruce, who built a single-story station. The branch line arrived in 1874, and a post office and customs house were built at that point, and the name Palmerston was chosen. Named for Sir Henry John Temple, the Third Viscount of Palmerston. Lord Palmerston being a major figure in the British government from the 1830s to his death in 1865. By the time the railroad arrived, the community's population had increased tenfold from the previous year, allowing incorporation as a town. Despite the town's location, it quickly became a major hub for railroad activity, Great Western and later Grand Trunk would take over operations in 1876 and 1882, respectively. Under Grand Trunk, Palmerston was a junction of sixty-five subdivisions in the vast Grand Trunk network. Because of this and the rural setting, Dr Alexander Stewart established Ontario's first Vaccine Farm in 1885. And when I say farm, I mean an actual farm. Dr Stewart took over a small farm with a brick house and a cow barn to produce and obtain the smallpox vaccine. The railroad would be able to move the vaccine anywhere in Ontario in a rapid manner. After Dr Stewart died in 1911, most of the Ontario vaccines were coming from American farms; the work continued in Palmerston until 1916 when the vaccine production moved to Toronto and the University of Toronto Antitoxin Laboratory. Canadian National would continue to operate the yards after taking over Grand Trunk operations in 1923. Unlike smaller lines, steam continued to dominate passenger travel well into the middle of the 20th Century. However, by 1960 diesel had taken over, CN demolished several buildings, including the roundhouse and turntable. Passenger service ceased in the 1970s, and through the 1980s and 1990s, many of the subdivisions were closed, with the final train leaving in 1996 never to return. With the help of CN, the town purchased the former yard, restoring the station to how it would have appeared in the early 20th Century under Grand Trunk, restored the pedestrian bridge, and converted the area into a park and museum. In 1999, Palmerston and Harriston, along with the surrounding areas, were amalgamated into the town of Minto.

A rather unassuming house operated as a vaccine farm from 1885-1916.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20CA small unassuming war memorial outside Lion's Hall by Grand Trunk Employees.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

While I ended up with a great selection of photos this week, that also made it harder to choose which ones to include. Given the prominence of the Railroad in the town's development, I had to choose the Palmerston Railway Museum as the featured image this week. The downtown presented a uniform skyline, no steeples or anything to make it interesting. And while I could have easily dominated the entire set with photos from CNR park (former railway right-of-way and yards), I had to add some variety. Still, it is also why I included the small memorial plaque raised by the former Grand Trunk Employees to the town's war dead (World War One). The Vaccine Farm building provided a nice little historical building, while a boring building, being able to see where Ontario's fight against smallpox was based warranted its inclusion. Another interesting part about Palmerston is how many buildings that are usually prominent in the downtown area found on side streets, the United Church and the Post Office are located nearer to the railway station, no surprise at the post office as it also included the custom's house. And yes, the church remains an active congregation, and the post office is still a post office. I did have to include at least one main downtown building, and this small block now housing a thrift store is one of the oldest standing datings to 1872, and the final image a house I included because I liked the way the light and shadow fell.

The Palmerston Post Office, Custom's House, and Armoury.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20CPalmerston United Church traces its history back to 1886, originally a Methodist Congregation it joined the newly formed United Church of Canada in 1925, the building remains the original one for the congregation.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

After nine weeks of struggling (again) with Fomapan 200, I can finally welcome my favourite film from the Foma line for the next eighteen weeks, Fomapan 100. But it also gives me time to experiment a bit more with different developers, a little over/under exposure, and push/pull in development. But given I was on a tight timeline, I didn't want to try anything fancy in the field. I ended up shooting the film at ASA-100, or box speed. For the lens, I went with the 35mm f/2.8, and for once, I actually did not feel I needed to bring any other lenses; the 35mm fit the feel of the area perfectly. The one thing I did wish I had remembered was a yellow filter to help knock back the skies a little. I went with Rollei Supergrain, another developer from Germany that I started experimenting with last year for the developer. The results were excellent, helping bring out the sharpness without overly increasing the visibility of the grain. I find it odd that the time was not listed on the Massive Dev Chart but is listed on the Supergrain bottle.

One of the many historic buildings along Highway 9 and the downtown.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20COne of several historic homes off the downtown near CNR park.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

Next week we're headed further west to a section of Ontario known for its Mennonite population and an awesome farmer's market, St. Jacobs (but without the market because of crowds).

#foma52 #52roll #52rollproject #52foma #canada #community #fomapan100 #minto #nikonfm #ontario #palmerston #railroad #rolleisupergrain #rural

Foma:52 – Week 18 – End of Line

It felt good to get up and out of my own little part of the province, and a solid drive (only an hour and a half) put me well outside the paved sections of the Greater Toronto Area to the small community of Palmerston. A community that owes its founding to the railroad, a rarity here in Ontario where most communities were founded along a river, canal, major road, or post-war colonization. While you can walk end-to-end in a short time, there is a lot more to Palmerston than the railroad alone; there is also some medical history to the community that helped defeat a once major illness.

The Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum, originally built by Wellington, Grey & Bruce in 1872, continued operation under three different Railways until the 1980s.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

The earliest European settler in what would become Palmerston dates to 1854, Thomas McDowell. While there would be a small farming settlement with a handful of families, the real growth didn't occur until the 1870s. The main catalyst was the railroad, a rarity in Ontario as most development and settlement took place along rivers, canals, or provincial roads. The opening of the Wellington, Grey, and Bruce Railroad saw construction drive through the small community. McDowell and Thompson, two prominent landowners, began dividing out their land, surveying a townsite and lots with the right-of-way forming the core of the planned community. One of the largest purchasers was Wellington, Grey, and Bruce, who built a single-story station. The branch line arrived in 1874, and a post office and customs house were built at that point, and the name Palmerston was chosen. Named for Sir Henry John Temple, the Third Viscount of Palmerston. Lord Palmerston being a major figure in the British government from the 1830s to his death in 1865. By the time the railroad arrived, the community's population had increased tenfold from the previous year, allowing incorporation as a town. Despite the town's location, it quickly became a major hub for railroad activity, Great Western and later Grand Trunk would take over operations in 1876 and 1882, respectively. Under Grand Trunk, Palmerston was a junction of sixty-five subdivisions in the vast Grand Trunk network. Because of this and the rural setting, Dr Alexander Stewart established Ontario's first Vaccine Farm in 1885. And when I say farm, I mean an actual farm. Dr Stewart took over a small farm with a brick house and a cow barn to produce and obtain the smallpox vaccine. The railroad would be able to move the vaccine anywhere in Ontario in a rapid manner. After Dr Stewart died in 1911, most of the Ontario vaccines were coming from American farms; the work continued in Palmerston until 1916 when the vaccine production moved to Toronto and the University of Toronto Antitoxin Laboratory. Canadian National would continue to operate the yards after taking over Grand Trunk operations in 1923. Unlike smaller lines, steam continued to dominate passenger travel well into the middle of the 20th Century. However, by 1960 diesel had taken over, CN demolished several buildings, including the roundhouse and turntable. Passenger service ceased in the 1970s, and through the 1980s and 1990s, many of the subdivisions were closed, with the final train leaving in 1996 never to return. With the help of CN, the town purchased the former yard, restoring the station to how it would have appeared in the early 20th Century under Grand Trunk, restored the pedestrian bridge, and converted the area into a park and museum. In 1999, Palmerston and Harriston, along with the surrounding areas, were amalgamated into the town of Minto.

A rather unassuming house operated as a vaccine farm from 1885-1916.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20CA small unassuming war memorial outside Lion's Hall by Grand Trunk Employees.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

While I ended up with a great selection of photos this week, that also made it harder to choose which ones to include. Given the prominence of the Railroad in the town's development, I had to choose the Palmerston Railway Museum as the featured image this week. The downtown presented a uniform skyline, no steeples or anything to make it interesting. And while I could have easily dominated the entire set with photos from CNR park (former railway right-of-way and yards), I had to add some variety. Still, it is also why I included the small memorial plaque raised by the former Grand Trunk Employees to the town's war dead (World War One). The Vaccine Farm building provided a nice little historical building, while a boring building, being able to see where Ontario's fight against smallpox was based warranted its inclusion. Another interesting part about Palmerston is how many buildings that are usually prominent in the downtown area found on side streets, the United Church and the Post Office are located nearer to the railway station, no surprise at the post office as it also included the custom's house. And yes, the church remains an active congregation, and the post office is still a post office. I did have to include at least one main downtown building, and this small block now housing a thrift store is one of the oldest standing datings to 1872, and the final image a house I included because I liked the way the light and shadow fell.

The Palmerston Post Office, Custom's House, and Armoury.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20CPalmerston United Church traces its history back to 1886, originally a Methodist Congregation it joined the newly formed United Church of Canada in 1925, the building remains the original one for the congregation.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

After nine weeks of struggling (again) with Fomapan 200, I can finally welcome my favourite film from the Foma line for the next eighteen weeks, Fomapan 100. But it also gives me time to experiment a bit more with different developers, a little over/under exposure, and push/pull in development. But given I was on a tight timeline, I didn't want to try anything fancy in the field. I ended up shooting the film at ASA-100, or box speed. For the lens, I went with the 35mm f/2.8, and for once, I actually did not feel I needed to bring any other lenses; the 35mm fit the feel of the area perfectly. The one thing I did wish I had remembered was a yellow filter to help knock back the skies a little. I went with Rollei Supergrain, another developer from Germany that I started experimenting with last year for the developer. The results were excellent, helping bring out the sharpness without overly increasing the visibility of the grain. I find it odd that the time was not listed on the Massive Dev Chart but is listed on the Supergrain bottle.

One of the many historic buildings along Highway 9 and the downtown.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20COne of several historic homes off the downtown near CNR park.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

Next week we're headed further west to a section of Ontario known for its Mennonite population and an awesome farmer's market, St. Jacobs (but without the market because of crowds).

#foma52 #52roll #52rollproject #52foma #canada #community #fomapan100 #minto #nikonfm #ontario #palmerston #railroad #rolleisupergrain #rural