2022 was a weird year! It rained during the previous night and into the morning of the 22nd, with forecasts calling for continued possibility of showers. In general it was cloudy and dreary. So Ye Olde Photographer loaded the C-3 with a 36-exposure roll of Kodak Tmax400 that was laying about. Bang! As he was getting ready to depart, the sun came out! Oh well. One might argue that in bright sunny conditions it would be impossible to underexpose ISO 400 film in an Argus C-3 (minimum exposure 1/300 second @ f/16), though that conclusion now appears to be in some doubt.

The start was a couple of shots on our new deck outside the kitchen, just to guarantee having something to meet the requirements. We then wandered northward to the town of Pennsburg to photograph the small railroad station there, a leftover from the former Reading Railroad Perkiomen Branch. The line has not seen passenger service since the 1950s and the building is in private hands — and nicely maintained. That location is now the current southern terminus of the East Penn Railroad, a local short line. There were two diesel locomotives from the line sitting near the station.

From there YOP headed further up Route 29 to the town of Palm and drove up Station Road, but alas there is no evidence of a station near that crossing. In driving on to the northwest we stopped to get a shot of the railroad line where it crossed over the road we were on — barely! The road is about 1.5 lanes wide and the overhead clearance is 8 feet, 9 inches! A remnant of earlier times, no doubt.

From there we continued to Macungie, on the former Reading Railroad East Penn Branch (now part of Norfolk-Southern). Macungie actually has a "train watching platform," located on the site of the former passenger station. Yeah, YOP admits he has probably stopped here 3 out of the last five Argus Days! After some delay apparently caused by track work, there were eventually two trains came by minutes apart. The second had four substantial diesels on the head end and hauled a long string of cars. Leaving there and stopping at a Wawa for a cold drink, yet a third train came by, same direction. It was quite audible, but not within range to photograph.

We then meandered homeward without finding any further excuses to stop, and more or less finished off the roll around the yard and garden at home. The Tmax400 was developed in Kodak HC110, Dilution H (1+63) for 9:00 at 70ºF.
The "official" submissions from multiple participants will eventually be viewable via the Argus Collectors Group site.

In continuance of the weird year theme, the results on the developed film are difficult to fully explain. There are a number of pretty decent images, but some others seem way underexposed. It may be time to get a little more scientific and check shutter and aperture operation and such before Argus 23rd, 2023!!! Ye Olde Photographer will declare it a successful Argus Day, since he only needed two images, but he remains struck by a feeling of disappointment.

A selection of the results follow: