Solvay 111, registration NY3112F, was built at Choisy-le-Roi in 1932.
She was put up for sale in 1985 by Solvay, following the transfer of Jean-Marc and Catherine Dubois to the factory. It was bought by Mr. François M. (a little irony, this is the second time François has bought a barge that Jean-Marc Dubois has left). He took it to Lyon on the Saône River where he had it converted into a houseboat with the idea of a garden, without giving it a new name. This idea appealed to Mr. André L. who bought it in 1986 and took it to 9 Quai de Serbie in Lyon (69) under the name Babylone. A garden was created on its roof, replacing the boat's old deck and hatches, using a sturdy steel tray. The owners planted a grapevine, a fig tree, a bay laurel, oleanders, a forsythia, and bamboo. A lawn completed the garden, which became a veritable floating jungle! You can see why the boat's name became Babylone! In 2011 another couple took it over while keeping its name. The new owners cleaned, pruned, and replanted the lawn, continuing the development of this extraordinary floating garden. In 2025, the Babylon had a new owner, a Mr. Rémy T., still in the same location and with the same name
Here's Solvay 111 in Ligny-en-Barrois in 1983 with Solvay 64:
In the winter of 1963 Solvay 111 with Solvay 60 in front of it was trapped in ice for three months on the Meuse, in the Vanne-Alcorps channel (lock no. 53, downstream from Fumay, Ardennes):
This photo is dated 1940 but no location is given:
Early 1980, Solvay 111 emerging from the Ruyaulcourt tunnel, Canal du
Nord:
At Isbergues (62), en route to Noyelles-Godault (62), after emptying at Arques (62):
A photo from 1982 of the pedestrian bridge that spanned the
canal between the bulk soda loading and the old caustic soda cylinder loading
(it was dismantled in early 1990) in Dombasle. It combines Solvay 111 and the
architecture of the installations; you could think you were at the Eiffel Tower, under the structure of
the loading, which also comes from the same steelworks, Pompey!
Solvay 73 and Solvay 111 in this photo taken by Jean-Marc D., captain of the 111, in 1982 or 1983 at the Waltriche shipyard, in Frouard:
Two undated shots with no location:
These next four are dated 1972 and show her moored at Lyon after she was first sold but before she was renamed Babylone:
This is Babylone at Vendin le Vieill:
More shots of Babylone but undated and it still looks like she was at Lyon:
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