Solvay 48

Solvay 48, registration NY2778F, was built at Choisy-le-Roi in 1924. The information on this page is taken from Vagus-Vagrant.fr unless otherwise stated.

It ended its career as a Panama barge in the early 1960s and scrapped in Dombasle in July 1967. The small Solvay barges assigned to the Dombasle-Sarralbe service and the return trip carrying coal from the Saar to Dombasle were called the "Panamas". These boats didn't have a permanent crew. Their drivers were employees of the CGTVN (Compagnie Générale de Transports du Nord), the electric loco barge towing company, and later of Bargest. They would swap boats mid-journey when they met another one coming from the opposite direction, as did the locos. The control centre for this traffic had its office in Dombasle near the Pierre Escuras bridge. The first person in charge was Alfred Piant, whose sister ran the Spar grocery store at lock 22 in Dombasle. Two or three large Solvay barges ended their careers this way. Often, after years as Panama barges, they were scrapped in the dead end of the Dombasle port.

Here she is moored at Dombasle (an evocative photo from my point of view):

This postcard (and close up) shows her in the dry dock at Dombasle:

Solvay 48 can be found in Roger Paon's superb book, " River Marine ", coming downstream from the Harskirchen lock (67), on the Saar Coal Canal, loaded with limestone destined for the Solvay factory in Sarralbe:

Solvay 48 in 1964 on a coal trip between Laneuveville and Dombasle:

Here are two photos of Solvay 48 ; they come from the family archives of Joël Kaiser, son of a Solvay bargeman. On the first one, no information:

On the second one, I was able to read a date written on the back: 1930; however, as you can see, we have the propeller, we have Solvay, but we don't have the number, and Joël doesn't know any more... so why am I publishing it here? Firstly, because the Solvay 48 is the only one of the "Kromhout" boats in his archives, it appears several times, and secondly, I find that the sailor standing on the rails of this boat looks very similar to the one holding an almost naked child in her arms in the previous photo. Vague clues, but well, even if it's a mistake, it doesn't invalidate this subject, which has already been extensively illustrated: