Solvay 122

Solvay 122, registration NY3557F, was built in 1963 in Chalon-sur-Saone.  All information on this page is taken from Vagus-Vagrant.fr unless otherwise stated.

Some information about the registration number from Denis Amand.  Have you ever wondered why Solvay 122 bore the registration number NY3557F, while Solvay 123 is NY3661F and Solvay 124 is NY3662F, even though all three were delivered in 1963, within a short time of each other? Well, I have the answer!  The initial registration number of 122 was NY3660F, which seems quite logical based on the registration numbers of the other two boats. But its papers were lost during a journey, so it was re-checked in Strasbourg and registered under a "vacant" registration number at the Nancy office! (perhaps the registration number of a wrecked or re-measured boat?).

Solvay 122 was put up for sale in 1987, the year the Solvay fleet ended, when Marcel and Denise Lubrez transferred to the factory. It was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Guy and Thérèse R. from Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (78), who named it The Guy (a contraction of their names).  In the late 2000s, following a shipyard project, the bottom of The Guy needed replacing, but due to his advancing age, Guy decided against it and made it his home in the Saint Nicolas port in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (78). It ended up being scrapped at the shipyard in Achères (78) in 2024.

This is Solvay 122 in Dombasle a few days after she was launched in Chalon-sur-Saone on September 6 1963:

Here she is undergoing engine tests on the Grand canal d'Alsace later in 1963:

In the summer of 1964, during a shutdown of the Canal de l'Est (now canal des Vosges), a group of Solvays in Donchery: 123, 122, 81, 87 & 84:

Solvay 122 with other Solvays on a postcard of Dombasle:

Here she is on the Arzviller inclined plane:

Solvay 122 at Melle, just downstream from Merelbeke, on the Scheldt, with the hatches of Solvay 123 in the foreground:

A photo showing Solvay 122 taken from a supplement of the Est Républicain dated October 1998, dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the Solvay factory in Dombasle (Jean-luc éclusator archives):

Around 1984 on the canal de Neufossé:

The front and rear in Dombasle around 1986:

Solvay 122 is only just visible in this photo taken in Dombasle in September 1983, taken from a brochure published by the National Navigation Office - Nancy Regional Navigation Directorate, "Eastern Industrialists: River transport, have you thought about it?":

This is The Guy in Paris in September 1999:

Here is The Guy in operation on June 2 2006 at Evry:

The Guy at Conflans in 2005: