Solvay 57

Solvay 57, registration NY2999F, was built in 1929 at Villeneuve la Garenne with a 25 hp Deutz engine. When Solvay sold her she became known as Gedeon. All information is from Vagus-Vagrant.fr unless stated otherwise.

These  first two photos show her performing manoeuvres at launch.

 

The next photographer was at Heer-Agimont, on the right bank of the Meuse, but the boat is still in France.  The Quatre-Cheminées lock is in Givet, and the Solvay will only enter Belgium a little over 300 metres further downstream:

It is not known where and when this picture was taken:

These next two items show Solvay 57 being used to advertise the shipyard where she was built. The first is in "Official Guide to Inland Navigation", 1933 edition:

Photo from the book, "Navigation intérieure", by R. Jenoudet, 1957:

This picture is unsourced:

The next two pictures show Solvay 57 leaving écluse de Dieue on the Meuse:

Here is a copy of the original postcard:

At the Riverboat Museum in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, you can see a model of the rear of the Solvay 57. The information plate reads, " Solvay & Co. - Headquarters in Brussels - 60 self-propelled barges No. 57 to 116 - Longitudinal section of the rear showing the arrangement of the propulsion unit":

These next two pictures were taken in Sedan:

July 1967 in Nancy:

Also in July 1967 in Nancy with Norbert Parent (husband of Sylviane, the source of most of my material) as a soldier:

This is Solvay 57 moored empty in Commercy (55), on March 14, 1948:

Here Solvay 57 features on a calendar:

When Solvay 57 was sold in 1976 she was renamed Gedeon and then broken up in 2024. A group of artists bought it with the intention of converting it into an exhibition space in northern France. It was scrapped in 2024 in Louvigny (59). 

She was photographed in July 2013 in a shipyard at Courchelettes. Without any markings, it's hard to recognize, but fortunately, our chief Solvay specialist, Denis Amand, has noted several details that allow him to confirm it's number 57:

- half-rounds on the flat bars
- the rear of the deck is complete on the galley (windbreak for the small galley windows)
- Chalon windows on the living quarters (modernization at the Chalon-sur-Saône shipyard)

and this is also confirmed by his brother Jacques:

Here's Gedeon as a wreck in 2024 (photo by La Voie du Nord):