We visited Sospel in The Alpes Martime today and took the bus from there to Menton.
As we travelled down on the bus on the D2566 we saw a number of derelict viaducts.
After a little investigation on the Internet we were able to establish that a tramway was opened from Menton to Sospel in 1912/13 which at first was very well patronised with 1st and 2nd Class accommodation. Often freight wagons we attached to trams as they traversed the line.
When the main line from Nice to Tende was being built, the tramway provided an easy means for transport of materials from the coast. Sadly once the main line was opened usage of the tramway declined and it closed in the 1930s. The route of the tramway very closely followed the line of what is now the D2566. It passed through or close to two villages en-route from Sospel to Menton: Castillon and Monti.
References:
http://transpressnz.blogspot.fr/2012/02/one-time-tramway-from-menton-to-sospel.html
http://www.cparama.com/forum/ligne-du-tramway-menton-sospel-t4789.html
Roger Farnworth 
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I’d often wondered if the tramway was associated with the Little Maginot forts – at St Agnes, Castillon and Sospel. But as it closed in 1931 not so.
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Hi Rev Roger; Really appreciated your post on the Sospel route, the tramway and tunnel. I’m Brad Shirakawa, I’m researching that road and tunnel for a story about the Sospel vicinity during WWII. Mind if I pick your brain?
1- Two WWII vets refer to a road called ‘whistling alley’ near Sospel – presume from the whistling sound an artillery shell makes. Ever come across this reference in your travels in Sospel-Castillon area?
—-Here is the interview with a fellow soldier about the event:
Finally, we end up at our destination, southern France, and our so called Champagne Campaign begins,” said Masuhara Okumura of L Co. “We detrucked and started our march to Sospel, which is a small French town near the Italian border.
“On the way to Sospel was a section of the road that we were told was under observation by the Germans and zeroed in by a railway gun which they wheeled in and out of a tunnel. To this day I don’t understand why we took that road or who gave the order. As soon as we appeared on that section of the road, an artillery shell landed right in front of T/Sgt Richard Otsubo who was leading the company with myself right behind him.
“He hit the ground and I thought he would get right up immediately and run forward. I thought he waited too long, and sure enough when he did get up to run it was too late and the next shell landed right on the edge of the road and splattered Otsubo squarely.”
“I was there inside of five seconds and knew it was taps* for my platoon Sgt of two campaigns. I called for medics, automatic, and kept going for about 50 yards till I was out of that Whistling Alley as that stretch of road was called.”
2- The only tunnel I can find in the Sospel area is the one in your blog, near the Col de Castillon. Would you know of any other tunnels near Sospel that might qualify?
3- Also, would you know about the names/numbers of the local roads from decades ago? I have a 1943 military map that calls the road from Menton to Sospel the 566, not the D2256. Not sure when the 566 became the 2256.
4-From the tunnel north, both the D2256 and D2256A go to Sospel. Would you know if both roads existed decades ago, during the 1940s? Or is the 2256A a newer road? Not sure when it was constructed.
5-Lastly (I hope!), as the D2256 goes north from the tunnel, is it still called the Route de Sospel?
I’m sorry to bombard you with so much! If you are unable to help me, no problem. If it’s easier, email me directly at bshirakawa@hotmail.com Thank you so very much.
Brad Shirakawa – San Jose, California, USA
http://www./shiragraphy.com - my photo galleries
Hi Brad. Thank you for your message. There is an East-West valley which Sospel sits in. The town was served by the tramway and by the PLM/SNCF standard-gauge railway which opened in 1928. That line ran from Nice through Sospel and Tende and then on to Cuneo. Probably the German gun was in one of the tunnels on the standard-gauge line.
I am not sure about dates of number changes to roads but the D2256A follows the old tramway line and passes through the tunnel at the Col de Castillon.
The PLM/SNCF line is still in use.
I will check out the road name North of the tunnel.
Best wishes
Roger
North of the tunnel the D2256A is called ‘Route de Menton’