The featured image above is a rather grainy image of steam at Drap-Cantaron Railway Station.
In the first six articles about the line from Cuneo to the sea we covered the length of the line from Cuneo to Breil-sur-Roya and then to Ventimiglia. These articles can be found here, [9] here [10] here, [11] here, [12] here, [13] and here [14]
Woven into the text below are a series of stills from a video of the train journey from Breil-sur-Roya to Nice. The video can be seen here. [4]
This article begins the journey from L’Escarene.
Initially, the line heads Southeast but then gradually turns to the the Southwest through Peille, Peillon and Drap before running into Nice.
The map below shows the two routes which headed from Nice and Ventimiglia North to Cuneo, as they existed prior to the alteration of the border between France and Italy after the Second World War.
The lines Nice to Tende and Ventimiglia to Tende in the period from 1928 to the Second World War, before the annexation, in 1947, of St-Dalmas de Tende and Piene to France. [15]
From l’Escarene to Drap-Cantaron
The line from L’Escarene to Drap/Cantaron. [25]
L’Escarene sits at the head of a long climb from Nice, it was one of the historic staging posts on the old royal road from Nice to Turin. Like Sospel Station, that of l’Escarene has substantial facilities which would allow the reception of military convoys in the event of conflict with neighbouring Italy. [1: p92]
It is only a very short distance to the abutment of the viaduct that carries the line through l’Escarene.
The D2566 passes West-East under the railway and then curves round to join the D2204 and pass North-South under the West end of the railway viaduct. The Anc. Rte de L’Escarène passes through the first arch of the viaduct. The D2204 passes through the second arch of the viaduct. [Google Maps, September 2025]
Setting off from l’Escarene Railway station, this is the first view of the l’Escarene Viaduct from the cab of a Nice-bound train. The viaduct over the Redebraus has eleven 15 metre arches. [4]
Part way across the viaduct the camera in the cab of the Nice-bound service picks up the metal parapet rails of the viaduct and the short tunnel ahead. [4]
The tunnel at the Southeast end of l’Escarene Viaduct is the Tunnel de Brec (382 metres in length. [19]
The Northwest portal of Brec Tunnel seen from alongside the line. [19]
The same crossing on Google’s satellite imagery. [Google Maps, August 2025]
The view Southeast from the mouth of Brec Tunnel. [4]
Turning through 180, provides us this view of the Southeast portal of Brec Tunnel. [19]
A gated crossing over the line a little further to the Southeast. [4]
The view from Rte de Tres, looking back towards l’Escarene Railway Station. [Google Streetview, November 2022] From the same location looking Southeast. Notice the bridge over the line. [Google Streetview, November 2022]
The view of the same bridge from the cab of the Nice-bound train. [4]
The bridge carry Rte de Tres over the line. [Google Maps, August 2025]
Looking Northwest along the line from the bridge carrying Rte de Tres over the line. [Google Streetview, November 2022]
The view Southeast from the same bridge. [Google Streetview, November 2022]
The next overbridge carries Rte de l’Eira over the line. [4]
Looking North from the bridge carrying Rte de l’Eira over the line. [Google Streetview, April 2013]
Looking South from the same bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2013]
Southeast, the line enters Tunnel de Ecluse (136 metres in length). Just before this, there is a footpath access under the embankment. [34]
The underbridge mentioned above, seen from the D21. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
The Northwest portal of Tunnel de Ecluse, seen from the cab of a Nice-bound train. [4]
The same tunnel mouth, seen from the lineside. [34]
The view from the cab of the Nice-bound train at the Southeast portal of Tunnel de Ecluse. [4]
Turning to face Westnorthwest, this is the Southeast portal of the Tunnel de Ecluse. [34]
The next feature on the line is a short tunnel – Tunnel d’Euira (63 metres in length). [32]
Tunnel d’Euira is on the right side of this satellite image. [Google Maps, September 2025]
The North portal of Tunnel d’Euira. [32]
The South portal of Tunnel d’Euira and the galleried retaining structure which carries the line from a point very close to the tunnel portal. [32]
From many an angle, you would be forgiven for thinking that the railway crosses a viaduct. It appears, however, that the structure is a galleried retaining structure which creates a platform for the railway to run on while limiting the wight of the structure on the rock face beneath. [Google Maps, September 2025]
This view of the location from a little further ‘South, shows that the trackbed abuts the rockface on the East side of the line. [32]
Looking East from a short length of the D21, the galleried retaining structure, which is almost a viaduct, can be seen. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
The railway continues on a ‘berm’ built out from the East face of the Paillon valley and high above the D21, until it reaches the Ruisseau d’Euira.
This small extract from Google’s satellite imagery shows Le Paillon, the D21 and the railway in parallel. The railway bridge over the Ruisseau d’Euira is on the right of this image. [Google Maps, September 2025]
The Viaduc d’Euira crosses the valley of the Ruisseau d’Euira. The viaduct has one 30 m arch and two 5 m arches. [31]
The Tunnel de Santa Augusta (754 metres in length) runs under the Ste-Augusta Chapelle. [30]
The South portal of the Tunnel de Santa Augusta. As can be seen the tunnel runs straight between the two portals, allowing the light from the North portal to be seen from outside the South portal. This photograph was taken alongside the track crossing the Viaduc d’Erbossièra. [30]
The Viaduc d’Erbossièra (205 metres in length). [29]
Viaduct de Faquin seen from the West on Chemin de Sainte Lucie in the valley floor. [Google Streetview, January 2011]
The northern mouth of Tunnel de Coletta, seen from a Nice-bound train. [4]
Viaduct de Faquin, seen from the D53 which crossed the line above the tunnel mouth to the South of the viaduct (Tunnel de Coletta). [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Tunnel de Coletta. [23]
Immediately to the South of Tunnel de Coletta the railway enters Peille Railway Station in Grave de Peille.
The approach to Grave Railway Station, seen from the cab of a Southbound service at the mouth of Tunnel de Coletta. [4]
Le Gare de Peille is situated on the East bank of the River Paillon on a pan artificial plateau which was created as part of the construction of the line from Nice to breil-sur-Roya. [26]
Peille Railway Station is located 6 km from the village of the same name, and serves the La Grave district, where the Vicat company operated a quarry and cement factory from 1924. A branch of the TNL tramway network reached this point from Pont-de-Peille. [1: p92]
At the South end of the Station site the line becomes single track once again adjacent to a house built originally for railway staff. [4]
South of Peille Railway Station the line passes this railway-built home, usually these houses were built for railway employees, either at a nearby station or working on track maintenance. [Google Streetview, April 2013]The line continues South towards Tunnel de Nogairet. [Google Streetview, April 2013]
Further South the line passes through Tunnel de Nogairet (32 metres in length). [Google Maps, September 2025]
The North portal of Nogairet Tunnel, seen from the cab of a Nice-bound service. [4]
The view South from the cab of the Nice-bound train at the South portal of Nogairet Tunnel.
Turning through 180°, this is the South portal of the Tunnel de Nogairet as seen from the cab a Breil-sur-Roya-bound train in 1995. [37]
And then a short distance further South trains pass through Tunnel de Bouisses.
Tunnel de Bouisses as it appears on Google’s satellite imagery, (107 metres in length). [Google Maps, September 2025]
The North portal of Tunnel de Bouisses, seen from the cab of a Nice-bound train. [4]
Low sun shines on the cab of the same Nice-bound service as it leaves Tunnel de Bouisses and is about to cross the first of two viaducts with the name ‘Bouisses’ (Viaduc de Bouisses No. 2). [4]
Turning through 180°, this low definition view shows the South portal of Tunnel de Bouisses as seen from the cab of a Breil-sur-Roya-bound train in 1995 which is just about to cross Viaduc de Bouisses No. 2. [37]
Viaduc de Bouisses No. 2 (three 6-metre arches), as it appears on Google’s satellite imagery. [Google Maps, September 2025]
A very short distance South-southwest the line crosses Viaduc de Bouisses No. 1. …
Viaduc de Bouisses No. 1 (six 6-metre arches).[Google Maps, September 2025]
In the light of the low sun this is the view South-southwest across Viaduc de Bouisses No. 1 from the cab of the Nice-bound service. [4]
The two Bouisses viaducts seen from across the valley to the West. No. 1 is on the right, No. 2 is on the left, with the portal of Tunnel de Bouisses visible top-left. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
A little further to the South, after running along a trackbed supported by retaining walls trains travelling towards Nice cross the Viaduct de Adrecia, seen here from the cab of the Nice-bound service. [4]
Viaduc de Adrecia (three 6-metre arches). [Google Maps, September 2025]
Viaduc de Adrecia, seen from the D21. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The line has curved round to the Southeast before it enters Tunnel de Launa, shown here by the red, blue and green dots. Viaduc de Launa sits immediately to the Southeast of the tunnel. [38]
The Northwest portal of Tunnel de Launa (309 metres in length). [4]
This slightly overexposed image shows the view from the cab of the Nice-bound service as it leaves the Tunnel de Launa. The Viaduc de Launa is just beyond the railway house on the left of the image. [4]
The Southeast portal of Tunnel de Launa with a railway house on the right of the image. The viaduct is immediately behind the camera. Note also the level crossing close to the tunnel mouth. [38]
The view East across the railway on Rte du Vieux Village (D121). [Google Streetview, March 2023]This photograph, taken at the apex of a hairpin bend on Rte du Vieux Village (D121) has the tunnel mouth top-left, the railway house just to the right of centre at the top of the image with the railway in front of it spanning a bridge which carries the road under the railway. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
The bridge carrying the railway over Rte du Vieux Village (D121). [Google Streetview, March 2023]
Viaduc de Launa (100 metres in length – six 12-metre arches over the Galimbert stream) seen from the cab of the Nice-bound train running through the level-crossing. The viaduct was rebuilt during 1992 and 1993 as the first viaduct suffered settlement due to ground movement. [4]
Both this and the next image of the pedestrian crossing at Chemin de Laghet – a couple of hundred metres further along the line toward Nice – are of poor quality because of bright and low sunlight. [4]
Immediately to the West of Peillon-Sainte-Thècle Railway Station, the line crosses Pont de Brauschet (five 9 metre arches), seen here from the South on Avenue de la Gare. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
Pont du Brauschet sits just to the West of Peillon-Sainte-Thècle Railway Station and is marked on this map with a red arrow. It is 70 metres long and is a 5-arch viaduct.
Pont de Brauschet, seen from the cab of a train heading for Nice. [4]
The next structure along the line is Tunnel de Châteauvieux (219 metres in length). This in the East portal of the tunnel. [4]
Tunnel de Châteauvieux is the first of three tunnels which Nice-bound trains now pass through. It is marked by the red, blue and green dots on this image. Immediately to the West of this tunnel are the two side-by-side Viaducs des Mortes. [40]
This is the West portal of Tunnel de Châteauvieux, seen from alongside the line between the tunnel and Viaduc des Mortes. [40]
Just to the West of the Tunnel de Châteauvieux there are 2 viaducts next to each other (Viaducs des Mortes) of which only one is in service; the southern one which gives access to the Tuhet tunnel. The viaduct to the north (which has seven arches) leads to an unfinished tunnel. An accident occurred during the drilling of the original tunnel in 1925. The accident, which caused the death of 3 workers, resulted in the need to drill a new tunnel and, as a result, the construction of another viaduct in 1927 (with five 11 metre arches). The viaducts are named, Viaducs des Mortes, not because of the accident but because the viaducts bridge a footpath which was used to take deceased inhabitants of Borghéas to the cemetery of the neighbouring village of Drap.
The two viaducts mentioned above. [Google Maps, September 2025]
The two viaducts, seen from the North. The green arrow indicates the operational viaduct, the red arrow, the redundant viaduct. [48]
A view of both of the two viaducts and the Tunnel de Tuhet beyond. [46]
The East portal of Tunnel de Tuhet, seen from the cab of a Nice-bound service on the Viaduc des Mortes. [4]
The Tunnel de Tuhet (346 metres long). [46]
The West portal of the Tunnel de Tuhet. [46]
The East portal of Tunnel de la Ribosse. [47]
Tunnel de la Ribosse. [47]
The West portal of Tunnel de la Ribosse. [47]
A short distance further West, the line passes through Fontanil-Drap High School Halt.
Fontanil-Drap High School Halt seen from the Southeast on Route des Croves. [Google Streetview, March 2025]
At the West end of the station/halt, the Route des Croves passes under the line. The low arch bridge seen from the South. [Google Streetview, March 2025]
The same structure seen from the North side of the line. [Google Streetview, March 2025]
The next bridge carries the line over Chemin de de l’Ubac. [Google Streetview, March 2025]
The South side of the same structure. [Google Streetview, March 2025]
A short distance further West the line crosses the D2204, the River Paillon and the D2204B. …
The railway station at Drap also served the village of Cantaron which was on the opposite bank of the River Paillon. This old postcard image was shared by Roland Coccoli on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 22nd January 2016. [5]A closer view of the Station at Drap. This postcard image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Charles Louis Fevrier on 5th January 2021. [6]
This length of our journey finishes here at Drap-Cantaron Railway Station.
References
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 1: 1858-1928; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 2: 1929-1974; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 3: 1975-1986; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Franco Collida, Max Gallo & Aldo A. Mola; CUNEO-NIZZA History of a Railway; Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, Cuneo (CN), July 1982.
Franco Collidà; 1845-1979: the Cuneo-Nice line year by year; in Rassegna – Quarterly magazine of the Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo; No. 7, September 1979, pp. 12-18.
Stefano Garzaro & Nico Molino; THE TENDA RAILWAY From Cuneo to Nice, the last great Alpine crossing; Editrice di Storia dei Trasporti, Colleferro (RM), EST, July 1982.
SNCF Region de Marseille; Line: Coni – Breil sur Roya – Vintimille. Reconstruction et équipement de la section de ligne située en territoireFrançais; Imprimerie St-Victor, Marseille (F), 1980.
The first decade of the 20th century saw the existing roster of locomotives on the line South of Cuneo supplemented by two additional series :130s (UK, 2-6-0) tender locos of the FS 630 series; and 040T (UK, 0-8-0T) tank locos of the FS 895 series. The featured image for this article is one of the tank locomotives of the FS 895 series. [65]
In the first two articles about the line from Cuneo to the sea we covered the length of the line from Cuneo to Vievola. These articles can be found here [9] and here. [10]
I also want to acknowledge the assistance given to me by David Sousa of the Rail Relaxation YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@RailRelaxation/featured and https://www.railrelaxation.com and particularly his kind permission given to use still images from rail journeys that he has filmed on the Cuneo Ventimiglia railway line. [35][55]
The Line South from Vievola
Our journey South down the line continues from Vievola. …
Vievola Railway Station, seen from a north-bound train in the 21st century. [35]
Vievola Railway Station, seen from slightly further South from the cab of a train heading North through the station back in the 1990s. [8]
A postcard view from 1910 of Vievola Railway Station. The image faces South. [66]
Before we can head South from Vievola on the railway, it needs to have been built! This, it turns out, was dependent on international agreements and their ratification by national parliaments. This process was fraught with difficulty! It would take until 21st March 1906 for agreements to be ratified!
Banaudo et al tell us that over the final decades of the 19th century, the various interests on the French side of the border sought to persuade the French government that the line from Nice to Cuneo was an important investment which should be made. As a result, the French government “invited the PLM company to undertake a route study from Nice to Sospel in circular dated 30th September 1890, renewed on 28th January 1892, given the lack of response from the railway administration. On 12th May, a prefectural decree authorized the company’s engineers to enter properties to conduct the first surveys.” [1: p57]
Banaudo et al continue: “To meet the requirements of the Ministry of War, the route had to include Lucéram. This resulted in a 15 km extension of the direct route between Nice and Sospel. In 1895, the General Staff showed an initial sign of goodwill by agreeing to the study being extended beyond Sospel towards Italy, subject to certain conditions. On 19th April 1898, Gustave Noblemaire (1832-1924), director of the PLM company, submitted a preliminary proposal for a line from Nice to the border via the Paillon de Contes valley, the Nice pass, L’Escarène, the Braus pass, Sospel, Mount Grazian, Breil and the Roya valley. The Lucéram service was included as a branch line from L’Escarène, other solutions were not technically feasible.” [1: p57-59]
The military response arrived on 27th September 1899, when the principle of the branch line was accepted. It was a few months, 10th January 1900, before the military confirmed their requirements, specifically: “commissioning of the Lucéram branch line at the same time as the L’Escarène – Sospel section; construction of the extension beyond Sospel after reinforcing the installations at Fort du Barbonnet and orientation of the tunnel under Mont Grazian so that it could be held under fire from the fort in the event of war; development of mine devices and defensive casemates at the heads of the main tunnels between L’Escarène and the border; and authorization for Italy to begin laying the track from San-Dalmazzo-di-Tenda to Fontan only after the completion of the Nice-Fontan section by France.” [1: p59]
Cross-border discussions took place between the French departmental Bridges and Roads Department and “its counterpart in the civil engineering department of the province of Cuneo to determine the main technical characteristics of the railway line built by the RM between Cuneo and Vievola, in order to adopt equivalent standards for the French section in terms of grades, curves, and gauge.” [1: p59]
Banaudo et al continue: “At the dawn of the 20th century, while the choice of a route from Nice to the Italian border at San-Dalmazzo via the Paillon, Bévéra, and Roya rivers was no longer in doubt in France, the same was not true in Italy. Indeed, although this solution was preferred by Piedmontese business circles, it was opposed by multiple pressure groups weary of twenty years of French policy of opposition and uncertainty. For many localities on the Riviera or in the Ligurian hinterland, as well as for a persistently Francophobic segment of the general staff, the construction of a line entirely within Italian territory appeared to be the best way to avoid diplomatic and strategic complications.” [1: p59]
In Italy, Piedmont and Liguria had differing views about the appropriate railway routes. Piedmont secured a promise, in the Italian parliament, to extend the railway to Tende and a decision to connect it to the coast soon. In Liguria, the desire was to secure a connection to Ventimiglia via either the Roya Valley or the Nervia Valley. Serious consideration was given to a tramway in the Roya Valley, the central section of which would run through French territory but this was rejected by the French military. [14]
A number of alternative schemes were put forward by Italian interests and by the city of Marseille. The city of Turin appointed a commission to look at all the options and after its report “concluded that it preferred the most direct route via the Col de Tende and the Roya, towards Ventimiglia and Nice. Similarly, the French Chamber of Commerce in Milan supported this choice in March 1900, also proposing the construction of a new 47 km line between Mondovi and Santo Stefano Belbo, designed by the engineer Ferdinando Rossi to shorten the journey between Cuneo, Alessandria and Milan.” [1: p60-61]
In 1901, French and Italian diplomats and then the Turin authorities agreed the main principles for an international agreement. On 24th January 1902 the PLM was granted the concession for the railway from Nice to the Italian border via Sospel, Breil-sur-Roya, and Fontan, as well as the beginning of the line from Breil-sur-Roya to Ventimiglia. This was ratified by law on 18th July 1902.
After this a further military inspection led to the strategic Lucéram branch being temporarily left aside with the possibility of a replacement by an electric tramway from Pont-de-Peille to L’Escarène, to be operated by the Compagnie des Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL).
Banaudo et al continue: “On Monday 6th June 1904, delegations from both countries met in Rome to sign the bipartite convention regulating the terms and conditions of operation of the future line and its implementation into international service. … In its broad outline, the agreement provided for the completion of the works within eight years (i.e. by 1912) and the possibility for the Italian railway administration to have its Ventimiglia-Cuneo trains transit French territory, with reciprocal authorization for the French operator to run its own vehicles in Italy on direct Nice-Cuneo trains and to establish a local service between Breil, Fontan and San-Dalmazzo-di-Tenda. … Initially, passenger services on the line would be provided by three direct daily connections Nice-Cuneo and Ventimiglia-Cuneo, and vice versa, offering carriages of all three classes.”
Banaudo et el describe the main points of the convention in respect of the transport of people and goods, particularly for transit between the two borders. “Police and customs controls would be simplified as much as possible for nationals of both countries. Nevertheless travelling between two Italian stations via the international section would require a passenger to have a valid passport. Italian postal vehicles would be permitted to travel duty-free on this section, as would goods and baggage in transit, provided they were placed in sealed vehicles and, for livestock, had undergone a prior health inspection at an Italian station. A special clause authorized the passage of Italian military transports of men, equipment, and animals through French territory, while conversely, the French army would be permitted to transit its consignments from Nice to Breil via Ventimiglia. Article 20 of the convention regulated a legal situation that was probably unique in Europe, that of the Mont Grazian tunnel, whose straight route would pass over a distance of 2,305 metres in Italian subsoil, although its two portals would be in France: ‘It is understood that for the part of the Mont Grazian tunnel located under Italian territory, the Italian government delegates to the French government its rights of control over the railway and its police and judicial rights’. This unusual situation resulted from a modification of the route decided at the request of the General Council of the Alpes-Maritimes. … This more direct route passing under Italian soil was finally preferred to the entirely French route under the Brouis pass, which would have been longer and would have moved the Breil station further from the village.” [1: p62-63]
In Italy, the ratification of the agreements made at the convention took three weeks – it was all done by 28th June 1904. In France thins would be quite different. “On 27th March 1905, as the convention was about to be submitted to a parliamentary vote, the Ministry of War decided to abandon the branch line to Lucéram, which was too costly and difficult to implement. Instead, the nearest stations, L’Escarène and Sospel, would need to be equipped with facilities for the rapid disembarkation of troops and equipment. At L’Escarène in particular, the station would need to be able to accommodate ten twenty-car trains per day and would have to include a military platform opening onto a large open area, an engine shed, and several water columns/supplies. In addition, the road from L’Escarène to Lucéram would need to be improved to facilitate access to the defensive sector of L’Authion.” [1: p63]
Banaudo et al comment: “The French Chamber of Deputies finally ratified the agreement on 3rd July 1905, more than a year after its Italian counterpart, but the Senate would continue to procrastinate until 8th March 1906. The senators demanded financial participation from the Alpes-Maritimes department in the land acquisition costs, and the French Consul in Italy, Henri Bryois, made numerous appearances in Paris to convince them. The day after the Senate’s vote, on 9th March 9, a parade, speeches, and demonstrations of sympathy for France enlivened the streets of Cuneo. … On 20th March, a final law officially ratified the agreement. … The municipality of Nice organized a grand celebration to celebrate the culmination of fifty years of effort. On 21st March 1906, Prime Minister Giolitti and Ambassador Barrère exchanged the documents ratified by the parliaments of both countries. Work could finally begin!” [1: p63]
In Italy, the ratification of the international convention led to the money for the completion of the works being set aside (24 million lire for the length South from Vievola to the then border, and 16 million lire for the length North from Ventimiglia to the southern border). In addition, the decision was taken to build the new station in Cuneo to accommodate the increased traffic that would arise from the new line.
A year later, on 1st July 1905, the Italian state brought all nationally significant rail routes/networks under the direct authority of the Ministry of Public Works (the Ferrovie dello Stato (FS)). This had only a limited impact on the Cuneo-Vievola line. “The 3200, 3800, and 4200 series locomotives of the Rete Mediterranea now formed series 215, 310, and 420 of the [FS}. … At that time, the Torino depot had a complement of 128 locomotives, including 20 from the 215 series and 18 from the 310 series deployed in the line, to which were added ten locos from the 320 series. These were also 030s [in UK annotation, 0-6-0s] with three-axle tenders, initially ordered by the RM as series 3601 to 3700 and gradually delivered by five manufacturers between 1904 and 1908.” [1: p64]
The first decade of the 20th century saw the existing roster of locomotives supplemented by two other series:
130s (UK, 2-6-0) tender locos of the FS 630 series; and
040T (UK, 0-8-0T) tank locos of the FS 895 series.
Locomotive No. 6301was a 2-6-0 (130) locomotive in the FS 630 series. [64]Locomotive No. 8955 was an 0-8-0T (040T) locomotiv3 in the FS 895 series, [65]
In 1906, a subsidised bus service was introduced to complement and replace the various horse-drawn and motor services already in existence on the roads between Vievola, Ventimiglia and Nice. [1: p64][c.f. 14] The connection to Nice was later (in 1912) taken over by the Truchi company of Nice. [1: p64]
Vievola to Tende
Banaudo et al, again:“In August 1907, the first of eleven work packages between Vievola and the [then] border were awarded: package 1 from Vievola to the Gaggeoetlen tunnel, and package 4 of the Cagnolina tunnel to Tenda. In June 1911, it was the turn of package 2, between the Gaggeo and Alimonda tunnels, and the following month, package 3 from Alimonda to Cagnolina. These contracts were signed with the Tuscan companies Sard and Faccanoni and the Ghirardi company, originally from the region of Lake Maggiore. Over 8.2 kilometres, the line crosses Triassic and Permian terrain cut by Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Carboniferous veins. There are ten tunnels covering a distance of 5.90 kilometres, or 72% of the route, as well as seven bridges and viaducts totaling seventeen masonry arches. The section has no level crossings, but seven “caselli” (houses) were built to house the road workers and their families. Some are isolated in the mountains, sometimes between two tunnels, and accessible only by railway.” [1: p64-67]
A schematic representation of the line from Vievola to Tende. [18]
A short video embedded from YouTube, taken at Vievola Railway Station in 2010. [23]Vievola Railway Station is at the centre of this extract from Google’s satellite imagery. The hamlet is Northeast of the Station just beyond the top of the image. Trains for Tende and beyond set off to the Southwest. The railway bridge can be seen at the bottom left of this image. [Google Maps, July 2025]
From Vievola, the line begins its journey down the valley of La Roya by crossing a single-arch bridge over the Dente valley which suffered some disruption resulting from Storm Alex in October 2020.
A closer focus on the bridge spanning the River Dente. This image appears to be taken after the inundation which occurred with Storm Alex in 2020. [Google Maps, July 2025]This pair of images are taken from a report into the majority damage caused by Storm Alex. The image on the left is the condition of the area prior to the storm, that on the right shows the situation after the storm. [15]The bridge that spanned the Dente, in the immediate aftermath of Storm Alex in October 2020. In the view of the engineers checking the line, the bridge was unstable because of erosion. This image was shared on the Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group by Osservatorio Ferrovia del Tenda on 3rd Aprilb2924 and credited to Damien Board. [16]The same bridge after further flooding at Easter 2024. This image was shared on the Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group by Gianluca Morelli on 4th May 2024. [17]
A short distance South of the bridge over the river, looking North towards Vievola from the cab of a north-bound train. [35]
Taken from a point a little further to the South, this photograph shows the parapets of a bridge over a small stream to the South of the Dente river. This image is also taken from the cab of a north-bound train in the 2020s. [35]
After crossing the 12 metre span bridge the line enters the 1273 metre long Branego horseshoe tunnel.
This photograph looks North from the mouth of the Branego Tunnel towards Vievola Railway Station. It is taken from the cab of the same North-bound train. [35]
The 1273 metre long Branego Tunnel. The bridge in the Dente valley is top-left and the Vievola (Chapel) Viaduct is middle-right in this image. [19]
The tunnel opens onto the right bank of La Roya about 25 metres above the river. The Vievola Viaduct spanned the river on five 15 metre masonry arches. Banaudo et al tell us that, “this structure would later be called the ‘Chapel viaduct’ due to its proximity to the Sanctuary of the Visitation or Madonna of Vievola.” [1: p67]
The East Portal of Branego Tunnel taken from the cab of a train approaching Vievola Railway Station from the South. [35]
The Vievola (Chapel) Viaduct seen from the cab of a train approaching it from Tende. [35]
I believe that the viaduct was fatally damaged by the German forces retreating at the end of WW2. It has been rebuilt in concrete as a 5-span concrete viaduct.
Looking South along the E74/D6204 under the railway viaduct. [Google Streetview, April 2008]Looking North along the E74/D6204 torads the railway viaduct. [Google Streetview, April 2008]The same location on Google satellite imagery shows a denuded valley floor after Storm Alex. [Google Earth 3D, July 2025]
Now on the left bank of La Roya, the line passes through a series of tunnels with very brief open lengths spanning narrow valleys or slight depressions. The first tunnel on the Left bank is shown below. …
After crossing the Chapel Viaduct trains heading for Tende ran straight into Gaggio Tunnel (373 metres long) which curves towards the Southeast. [20]
The Southeast Portal of Gaggio Tunnel seen from the cab of a Northbound train at the mouth of Devenzo Tunnel. The parapets of the 12-metre span arched bridge over the San Pancrazio valley can be seen between the two tunnels. [35]
The Bridge over the Vallon Pancrasio (the San Pancrazio valley) is a 12 metre span arch bridge. [21]The San Pancrazio valley as it appears on Google’s satellite imagery after the damage from Storm Alex. [Google Earth 3D, July 2025]A closer look at the railway bridge spanning the San Pancrazio valley. [Google Earth 3D, July 2025]
The tunnel portals are generally made of local stone as are the arched bridges. The next tunnel is the Devenzo tunnel, shown below. …
The Devenzo Tunnel (732 metres long) extends Southeast from the San Pancrazio valley to the Mezzora Valley which seems little more than an ‘indentation’ in the valley side. A shorter tunnel is beyond the opening (the Mezzora Tunnel – 351 metres long) which opens out onto the Alimonda Valley at the bottom-right of this map extract. [22]
This photograph is another still from a video taken from the cab of a train travelling North from Tende. It shows the short length of open line mentioned above. The parapets are those of the viaduct of two 6 metre arches. [35]
This Google Earth satellite image shows the railway line breaking cover to cross the Alimonda valley near the top of the image. The E74/D6204 is at the bottom-left of the image. [Google Earth, July 2025]The same location as it appears on OpenStreetMap. The bridge over the Alimonda valley is at the top-right of the image and the E74/D6204 is in the bottom-left. [24]
The Southeast portal of the Mezzora Tunnel can be seen in this image taken from the tunnel mouth of the Alimonda Tunnel. It is possible to see along the full length of this tunnel to the short opening mentioned above. In the course of travelling this short length of open line the railway crosses the Alimonda Valley. [35]
The next tunnel, the Alimonda Tunnel begins immediately the Alimonda valley has been crossed. The tunnel is 380 m long.
The Alimonda Tunnel: the bridge over the Alimonda Valley is top-left in this map extract, the bridge over the Scara Valley is bottom-right. [25]The bridge over the Scara Valley is on the right of this map extract. There is very little of the railway open to the elements at this location. [26]
The short length of track and bridge in the Scara Valley between the Alimonda Tunnel and the Frera Tunnel, seen from the cab of a service which has just left the Frera Tunnel heading for Vievola and on to Cuneo. [35]
Before entering the Frera Tunnel, it is worth pulling back a little to see the route of the line ahead. This is the first ‘spiral’ on the line down towards Ventimiglia and Nice. A large section of the spiral is within one tunnel but the engineers made use of the Valley of the Refrei to avoid having to put the entire spiral in tunnel. [36]
The Frera Tunnel (498 m long) runs North-northwest to South-southeast passing over the line ahead which is at a lower level – both are tunneled out of the rock. There is an open length of the line and a bridge at the bottom-right. [27]
The short length of track and the bridge between the Frera and the Rio Freddo tunnels. [35]
After crossing the bridge noted above the line soon disappears into the Rio Freddo Tunnel (376 m long). The bridge is top-left. The tunnel opens out for a short length at the right of this map extract. [28]A short length of line is open to the elements to the North of the valley of the Refrei and between the Rio Freddo and Morga Tunnels. [29]
The short length of line between the Rio Freddo and the Morga Tunnels, seen from the cab of a train just leaving Morga Tunnel. The Rio Freddo tunnel mouth is ahead. Between the two tunnel mouths is the Morga Bridge (two 8-metre arches). [35]
Banaudo et al tell us that “from the exit of the Rio-Freddo tunnel [on the North flank of the Refrei valley], the village of Tenda (Tende) appears below and the railway describes a helical loop which ends at [the lower end of] the Cagnolina tunnel. … This loop loses about sixty metres of altitude in less than 3 km of travel.” [1: p70]
After the very short open length of line to the East of the Rio Freddo Tunnel, another short tunnel ensues – the Morga Tunnel (160 m long). [30]Another short open length of line sits between the Morga and Gerbo Tunnels. [31]
The short open length of track between Morga and Gerbo tunnels, seen from the cab of a Cuneo-bound service and framed by the Southwest mouth of Gerbo Tunnel. [35]
Pulling back a little enables the full length of Gerbo Tunnel (279 m long) to be seen, together with the open length of line and viaduct to the East – Gerbo Viaduct. [32]
The Northeast Portal of Gerbo Tunnel seen from the cab of a Cuneo-bound train in the 2020s. [35]
A short distance further along the line, the Bazara Viaduct (of five 8 m arches) is seen here, with the Gerbo Tunnel beyond – these are seen from the cab of a Cuneo-bound service in the 21st century. [35]
After a short length of line to the Northeast or Gerbo Viaduct the line enter Cagnolina Tunnel and under many tons of rock swings round to travel West while on a downward grade. [33]
Here the Cuneo-bound train is just leaving the South Portal of Cagnolina Tunnel (at the right of the above map extract) and crossing a small bridge close to the tunnel mouth. [35]
Still in tunnel, the line passes under the line we have just travelled before breaking out into the valley of La Roya. It then bridges the river and heads down the the valley side on the left bank of La Roya to Tende Railway Station. [34]
The lower (West) portal of the Cagnolina Tunnel and the bridge over La Roya. Taken from the cab of a train heading North from Tende. The bridge over La Roya has a 12 metre span. [35]
A significant retaining wall to the West of the line, above which runs the E74/D6204. [35]
A short tunnel (Tende Galleria) part way along the length that the E74/D6402 run parallel and in close proximity to each other. The view looks North-northwest along the line. [35]
A train from Cuneo arrives at Tende Railway Station in February 2023. [37]
The Tende Railway Station today has a passenger building and two platform faces. In the past, it had three platform faces and a goods shed of classic Italian design, “the station had a number of goods tracks, two reinforced concrete water tanks supplying two hydraulic cranes, as well as an 8.50 metre turntable which was probably transferred from Vievola when the line was extended.” [1: p70]
Wikipedia tells us that Tende Railway Station “opened on 7th September 1913. [40: p146] … Tende remained the temporary terminus for almost two years, until the opening of the Tende – Briga Marittima – San Dalmazzo di Tende section, which took place on 1st June 1915.” [39][40: p149]
The station and yard were electrified along with the line in 1931. [40: p171-172]
Tende “became isolated from the railway network after the destruction of bridges and tunnels by the retreating Germans between 15th and 26th April 1945.” [39][41: p15] .
“It remained under the jurisdiction of the Italian State Railways (FS) until 15th September 1947 and was passed into the hands of the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) the following day, when the upper Roja valley was separated from the province of Cuneo and became French territory by virtue of the peace treaty with France.” [39]
“After thirty-four years of inactivity, it was reopened on 6th October 1979 , the day of the inauguration of the rebuilt Cuneo-Ventimiglia line.” [39][40: p243]
The station yard was originally of a significant size. [42: p81] For the reopening of the Limone-Ventimiglia line to traffic … it was initially planned that the Tende station would be transformed into a stop equipped with only a single track, but it was subsequently decided to build a loop [43: p34] with a useful length of 560 metres and a single track serving the loading platform and the goods warehouse. [43: p29]
The Goods Shed and Passenger building at Tende seen from Avenue du 16 Septembre 1947 and looking Southeast. [Google Streetview, July 2014]
A French and an Italian train pass at Tende in 2022. The train on the right is, I believe, an ALe501 trainset commissioned by Trenitalia in the early 2000s and produced by Alstom Ferroviaria, (c) Tomas Votava. [Google Maps, August 2025]
TER No. 76671 on the Train des Merveilles service from Nice stands at Tende Station, (c) Kenta Yumoto. [Google Maps, August 2025]
We have travelled as far as Tende Railway Station and noted that the line reached the village in 1913 and remained the terminus of the line from Cuneo until 2015. While the line as far as Tende was still under construction, Banaudo et al tells us that there were continued contacts “between the Italian and French authorities to resolve the remaining issues concerning the connection between the two networks in the Roya Valley. On 3rd January 1910, the Ministers of Public Works of both countries … met to discuss the problems of Franco-Italian communications. On 15th May 1910, the Cuneo Chamber of Commerce approached the government to request the acceleration of work between Vievola and Tenda. … During the same period, … efforts were being made to produce [hydroelectric power]. … The first plants were installed in Airole and Bevera in 1906, and later in San-Dalmazzo between 1909 and 1914.” [1: p70-74]
“The Roya hydroelectric power plants were intended to supply the Vallauria Mining Company and its ore processing facilities, public lighting, industries and the tramways of the Ligurian Riviera as far as Savona and Genoa.” [1: p74]
In France, two small power plants were built at the beginning of the century at Pont d’Ambo, downstream from Fontan, and in Breil. Between 1912 and 1914, a larger power plant was built opposite the village of Fontan.
Banaudo et al tell us that “In both France and Italy, the simultaneous construction of the railway and power plants turned the Roya Valley into a huge construction site for a dozen years. The companies had to house, feed, and entertain several hundred workers, most of them from other regions of Italy.” [1: p74]
After the opening of Tende Railway Station in September 1913, “the FS improved the service which had remained unchanged for a quarter of a century. Four Cuneo – Tenda return trips would now run every day, including a mixed goods-passenger one. From July to September, a fifth return trip was added. The 50 km journey took an average of 1 hour 50 minutes.” [1: p75]
Meanwhile, the project to divert the railway line and build a new station on the Altipiano in Cuneo which we noted in the first of these articles, [9] was being developed. Work began in September 1913 [1: p80] but it was to be 7th November 1937 before the new station opened! [44]
“While the line was creeping southwards from Cuneo to Tenda, work had begun in Ventimiglia on the northbound line up the Roya Valley. However, by the outbreak of World War I it had only covered 20 kilometres to Airole. Meanwhile, and again interrupted by the war, another line was being built northeast from Nice to join the Cuneo-Ventimiglia line at Breil sur Roya.” [39] Progress on these two lines is covered in other posts in this series of articles. [45][46][47][48]
From Tende to St. Dalmas de Tende(San Dalmazzo di Tenda)
“In the first half of 1912, calls for tenders were issued for six lots of the section between Tenda, Briga, San-Dalmazzo, and the northern border of the Paganin Valley, followed in April 1913 by the award of the seventh and final lot. Here again, the tunnels, fifteen in number, account for more than two-thirds of the route, or 8,576 metres out of 12,335 metres. There are also seven bridges and viaducts, comprising a total of thirty-five masonry arches, about ten short-span structures, and there were ten roadside houses.” [1: p127]
The length of the line from Tende to San Dalmazzo di Tenda (San Dalmas de Tende). [51]Schematic plan of the line from Tende South to the former Italian border via La Brigue and Saint Dalmas de Tende. [18]Tende Railway Station in the 21st century, seen from the Southeast, from the cab of a northbound train. [35]
Tende Railway Station seen from the cab of a South-bound service. [55]
Leaving Tende Railway Station, the line soon passes onto the curved viaduct spanning the Roya River opposite the village. The viaduct has one 20-metre arch and eleven 15-metre arches.
The southern end of the station site and the viaduct which crosses the valley of La Roya. [53]
A South-bound service crosses Tende Viaduct. This is the view from the cab. [55]
We were in Tende in November 2023 so saw something of the major work being undertaken after Storm Alex hit the area in October 2020 and took these photographs of the viaduct
The northern half of the viaduct. [My photograph, Wednesday 22nd November 2023}The larger viaduct arch span over La Roya. [My photograph, Wednesday 22nd November 2023]The southern length of the viaduct. [My photograph, Wednesday 22nd November 2023]Tende Viaduct seen from the South from the cab of a train heading for Tende Railway Station. [35]
Once across the viaduct, trains heading South ran on through three tunnels on the left bank of La Roya on a falling grade of 25mm/m. These were:
Borgonuovo Tunnel (200 metres long) …
The approach to Borgonuovo Tunnel, seen from the cab of a South-bound train. [55]
Looking North from the mouth of Borgonuovo Tunnel, from the cab of a North-bound train. [35]
The view South from the mouth of Borgonuevo Tunnel., [55]
The southern portal of Borgonuovo Tunnel, seen from the cab of an approaching train. [35]
The view from above the South portal of Borgonuovo Tunnel, (c) Tito Casquinha, June 2019. [Google Maps, August 2025]
The same length of line seen from across the valley. [Google Streetview, October 2008]
Bijorin Tunnel (248 metres long) …
The North portal of the Bijorin Tunnel. [55]
The view from the northern portal of Bijorin Tunnel. [35]
The view South from the mouth of Bijorin Tunnel. Colombera tunnel is just visible ahead. [55]
The length of line between Bijorin and Colombera tunnels, seen from the far side of the valley of La Roya. [Google Streetview, October 2008]
The South portal of Bijorin Tunnel is ahead in this still from a video taken from the cab of a North-bound train. This image also shows avalanche warning wires above the line. [35]
Colombera Tunnel (212 metres long) …
The North portal of Colombera Tunnel. [55]
The view North towards Bijorin Tunnel from the mouth of Colombera Tunnel. [35]
An over exposed view South from the South Portal of Colombera Tunnel. [55]
The South Portal of Colombera Tunnel seen from the cab of a Northbound train. [35]
This OpenStreetMap extract shows the three tunnels named above, and the lengths of open railway line between. [54]
A short distance further South the railway bridges a minor road. These are the bridge parapets seen from the cab of a South-bound train. The minor road is just visible to the left of the image. [55]
The next tunnel is Bosseglia Tunnel. The railway and the main road separate as the line heads into the tunnel which is S-shaped and 1585 metres in length. The southern portal of the tunnel opens out into the Levenza valley, a short distance to the East of La Brigue Railway Station. Banaudo et all refer to the station as Briga-Marittima station, which appears to be the name of the station in Italian. [1: p127]
The Bosselgia Tunnel (which is over 1.5 km long) and the railway station at La Brigue as they appear on OpenStreetMap. [56]
Looking South, this is the northern portal of the Bosseglia Tunnel. [55]
Looking North from the mouth of Bosseglia Tunnel. [35]
Looking West from the southern portal of Bosseglia Tunnel towards La Brigue Railway Station. [55]
Turning through 180 degrees, this is the southern portal of the Bosseglia Tunnel seen from a North-bound train. [35]
La Brigue Railway Station once comprised a passenger building, two platform faces (a third would be built during electrification), three freight tracks with a good shed and a raised platform. The modern station is situated to the East of the old station. [1: p127]
Looking West from the modern La Brigue Station through the site of the original station. [55]
Further through the site of the old railway station and continuing to face West down the Levenza valley. The old goods shed is on the left. [55]
The site of the two La Brigue Railway Stations. The modern station is on the right of this map extract, the old station and goods shed are left of centre. [58]The station at La Brigue is a short distance to the West of the village. [Google Maps, August 2025]
The original station building at La Brigue, seen from the cab of a train heading for Ventimiglia. [55]
The bridge over the D43 and the River Levenza. [59]
The bridge over the D43 and the River Levenza. [55]
The bridge which carries the railway over the D43 and the River Levenza, seen from the East. [Google Streetview, August 2016]
The bridge which carries the railway over the D43 and the River Levenza, seen from the West. [Google Streetview, August 2016]
The view back across the bridge over the River Levenza towards La Brigue Railway Station. The D43 can just be made out to the right of the bridge. [35]
Leaving La Brigue Railway Station the line resumes following a falling grade of 25 mm/m. This continues through the Levenza viaduct, which, as we have seen consists of three 8-metre arches abutting a single span road bridge. Beyond this is the Levenza tunnel (418 m long). …
The Northeastern portal of the Levenza tunnel. [55]
The view back along the line from the Northeast portal of the Levenza tunnel. [35]
This overexposed view looks Southwest from the Southwest tunnel mouth of the Levenza tunnel. [55]
The Southwest portal of the Levenza tunnel seen from the cab of a North-bound service. [35]
Beyond the Levenza Tunnels is and an unnamed viaduct of three 8-metre arches) and the line then enters the Rioro Spiral Tunnel.
The Rioro Tunnel forms a loop which describes a circle of 300-metre radius and accommodates a 30-metre drop.
Banaudo et al tell us that the tunnel “is officially divided into two sections: Rioro I (282 m) and Rioro II (1527 m), connected by an artificial tunnel with a lateral opening closed by a gate. At this opening, a ‘casello’ (a ‘hut’) was built into the mountainside to house a road worker and his family.” [1: p127]
Looking Northeast from the mouth of the Rioro spiral tunnel. [35]
The Northeastern portal of the Rioro sprial tunnel. [55]
The Rioro Spiral Tunnel between La Brigue and St. Dalmas de Tende is 1828 metres in length. [60]
Trains are within the tunnel for some minutes as they cover nearly two kilometres of turning track within the tunnel. This view comes from the cab of a South-bound train. [55]
Facing Southwest along the line at the mouth of the Rioro Spiral Tunnel. The picture is overexposed as the camera is reacting to daylight after running through the tunnel. [55]
The Southwest Portal of the Rioro Spiral Tunnel, seen from the cab of a North-bound train. [35]
The Rioro Spiral Tunnel opens onto the left bank of the Levenza River, just before its confluence with the Roya River.
To the Southwest of the tunnel, the line is carried alongside the River Levenza on a retaining wall. The parapet of this wall, protected by railings, can be seen on the right of this image. [55]
The River Roya is crossed by the San-Dalmazzo I viaduct. Banaudo et al tell us that “the seven 15-metre masonry arches of this structure were widened to carry three tracks to accommodate the approach to the station, built on a vast embankment. An underpass beneath it provides a route for the [E74/D6204].” [1: p127]
The line is retained above the Levenza River and then crosses La Roya on a viaduct of seven 15-metre masonry arches. A short tunnel under the wide embankment to the Southwest of the river allows the D6204 to pass under the railway. [61]
A postcard view of the viaduct and station at the centre of St. Dalmas de Tende. The station building is to the right of this image, the viaduct in the centre. The photograph was taken on the hillside to the North of the village. This image was shared on the Ferrovia internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group by Luisa Grosso on 1st November 2021. [63]
The bridge over La Roya on the approach to St. Dalmas de Tende. [55]
The bridge over the Avenue de France (the D6204/E74) seen from the North. The road is in tunnel as a large area was dedicated to the station complex at St. Dalmas de Tende as it was originally a border station in Italy. [Google Streetview, August 2016]
The same bridge/tunnel seen from the South on the Avenue de France. [Google Streetview, August 2016]
A long double-track section of the line runs through the station at St. Dalmas de Tende. A small yard remains on the North side of the line entered vis the point seen in this image. [55]
The final approach to St. Dalmas Railway Station from the Northeast. [55]
St. Dalmas de Tende Railway Station seen, looking Southwest, from the cab of a South-bound train. [55]
St. Dalmas de Tende Railway Station as show on OpenStreetMap. [62]A postcard image overlooking the station site at St. Dalmas de Tende prior to the construction of the large station building. [5]The station during construction work. There is scaffolding on the main station building, which appears to have been built in sections with a completed length nearest to the water tower. The engine shed is under construction, centre-right. This image was shared on the Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group by Mauro Tosello on 12th June 2022. [6]A postcard view of the Railway Station at St. Dalmas de Tende, taken from the East. The tunnel at the Southwest end of the station site can be seen on the left of the photograph. This image was shared on the Ferrovia internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group by Luisa Grosso on 1st November 2021. [63]The locomotive Depot at St. Dalmas de Tende. The depot was on the Southeast side of the running lines opposite the railway Station and close to the Biogna River. The road shown on the OpenStreetMap plan of the modern station to the Southeast of the site is the road shown at the top of this plan. This drawing comes from From the December 1929 Technical Magazine of Italiane Ferrovie. It was shared on the Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group on 13th February 2024 by Francesco Ciarlini Koerner. [4]
St. Dalmas de Tende Railway Station seen, looking Northeast, from the cab of a North-bound service. [35]
St. Dalmas de Tende (San-Dalmazzo-di-Tenda in Italian) was “the last station on Italian territory, before the northern border. This is where the French Forces would install a large-scale border station that will handle customs clearance operations in addition to the French facilities at Breil. In the first phase, a temporary passenger building and a small freight shed were built on the vast embankment created from the spoil from the tunnels upstream of the confluence of the Roya and Biogna rivers. The original layout includes four through tracks, one of which is at the platform, five sidings, three storage tracks, a temporary engine shed, a 9.50 m turntable, and a hydraulic power supply for the locomotives.” [1: p127]
It is here, at St. Dalmas de Tende, that we finish this third part of our journey from Cuneo to the coast.
Located at the confluence of the Roya River with the side valleys of the Levenza and Biogna, San-Dalmazzo-di-Tende “was built around a former Augustinian convent that became offices of the Vallauria mining company and then a spa. Since the border was established in 1860 a few kilometers downstream in the Paganin Gorges, first a few dozen, then hundreds of workers, employees, and civil servants gradually settled in San-Dalmazzo with their families. Jobs were plentiful, with the development of mining in the neighboring Val d’Inferno, the creation of a sawmill, the construction of dams and hydroelectric power plants, the emergence of tourism, and the permanent presence of a large number of police, customs, and tax guards. This influx … was reinforced during the railway works, which attracted many workers: earthmovers, masons, stonemasons, miners, carpenters, etc. These newcomers, who mostly came from other regions, sometimes far away, slowly integrated into the local population.” [1: p130]
The line to San-Dalmazzo-di-Tende was opened on 1st June 1915. The three of the four daily services were connected to the Southern arm of the line which by this time had reached Airole, by a coach shuttle. [1: p131]
A temporary station was provided as a terminus of the line from Cuneo. It was sited to the Northeast of the present large station building which was not built until 1928.
The next length of the line can be found here. [67]
References
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 1: 1858-1928; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 2: 1929-1974; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 3: 1975-1986; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Franco Collidà, Max Gallo & Aldo A. Mola; CUNEO-NIZZA History of a Railway; Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, Cuneo (CN), July 1982.
Franco Collidà; 1845-1979: the Cuneo-Nice line year by year; in Rassegna – Quarterly magazine of the Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo; No. 7, September 1979, pp. 12-18.
Stefano Garzaro & Nico Molino; THE TENDA RAILWAY From Cuneo to Nice, the last great Alpine crossing; Editrice di Storia dei Trasporti, Colleferro (RM), EST, July 1982.
SNCF Region de Marseille; Line: Coni – Breil sur Roya – Vintimille. Reconstruction et équipement de la section de ligne située en territoireFrançais; Imprimerie St-Victor, Marseille (F), 1980.
This image appeared on an Italian Facebook Group but I did not record which one and cannot now find the image or the group, accessed on 1st October 2025.
In the first article about the line from Cuneo to the sea we covered the length from Cuneo to Vernante. The article can be found here. [9]
The Line South from Vernante to Limone
A schematic drawing showing the main locations on the line from Vernante to Limone. [17]
Banaudo et al write that “It was only in 1886, after the creation of the Rete Mediterranea, that the work on the fourth tranche from Vernante to Limone was awarded. It was 8,831 m long and had a gradient of 203 m, which was to be compensated for by a continuous ramp of up to 26 mm/m. This value would not be exceeded at any other point on the line. On this section, the rail remained constantly on a ledge on the steep slope on the right bank of the Vermenagna, where it was anchored by eleven bridges and viaducts totaling sixty-three masonry arches, as well as nine tunnels with a combined length of 4,416 m, or just over half the route:” [1: p28]
the Tetti-Chiesa tunnel which is 122 m long;
the Elicoidale tunnel (the Vernante Spiral tunnel) is 1,502 m long;
the Rivoira viaduct has fourteen 15 m arches and one 23 m arch;
the Rivoira tunnel is 251 m long;
the Santa Lucia viaduct has three 12 m arches;
a short span masonry arch over a minor road;
the Santa Lucia-Noceto tunnel is 348 m long with two openings;
the Noceto viaduct has six 8 m arches;
the Marino viaduct has two 8 m arches and two 12.50 m arches;
the Marino tunnel is 202 m long;
the Mezzavia viaduct, three 11 m arches;
the Mezzavia tunnel is 444 m long;
the bridge over the Ceresole valley has two 10 m arches;
the Boglia tunnel is 1,086 m long;
the San Bernardo viaduct over the Sottana valley has two 6 m arches and three 10 m arches;
the Cresta-Molino tunnel is 335 m long;
the Boschiera viaduct has twelve 10 m arches;
the Rocciaia tunnel is 126 m long;
the Rocciaia bridge is a single arch;
the first Rocciaia viaduct has four 8 m arches;
the second Rocciaia viaduct has eight 8 m arches.
We start this next length of the journey at Vernante Railway Station and head Southeast.
A plan of Vernante Railway Station. [10]Vernante Railway Station: the route to Limone leaves at the bottom-right of this image. [Google Streetview, July 2025]The view Southeast from the station car park, after demolition of the old goods shed. The main station building features at the centre of the image. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The main station building at Vernante seen from the West. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
Photographs showing the station building and the goods shed prior to its demolition can be seen here. [58] “Inaugurated in 1889, the station served as the terminus for the Cuneo-Ventimiglia line for nearly two years, until it was extended to Limone Piemonte. The passenger building features classic Italian architecture, with two levels. It is square, medium-sized, and well-maintained. Its distinctive feature is the two murals depicting scenes from the Pinocchio fairy tale, adorning its façade. The lower level houses the waiting room and self-service ticket machine, while the upper level is closed.” [58]
A photograph from the cab of a Cuneo-bound train arriving at Vernante. The passenger building is on the left with the goods shed beyond. [8]
The view from Via Frederi Mistral which passes over the tunnel mouth at the Southeast end of Vernante Railway Station. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The very short tunnel (Tette-Chiesa, 122 metres in length) at the Southeast end of Vernante Railway Station. [Google Maps, July 2025]
The southern portal of the Tette-Chiesa Tunnel seen from a Cuneo-bound train. Immediately beyond the far portal trains would have to stop to manually engage a point for the running line or the train would end up on the safety siding provided for runaways on the steep downward gradient. [8]
The large retaining wall on the left of this image supports the railway as it runs immediately adjacent to the E74/SS20 but at a higher level. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The height of the retaining wall decreases as the E74/SS20 gains height. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
Banaudo et al comment: “Leaving Vernante, the track describes a complete spiral loop at Rivoira, which allows it to rise about fifty metres over a circular length of two kilometres. This loop includes the 1,502 m long ‘Elicoidale’ tunnel, which was completed on 30th December 1889, and the imposing viaduct over the Salet torrent. With its fifteen arches, from the top of which the rail dominates the lower level of the loop by 45 m, this structure can be considered by its proportions as the most imposing of the whole of line. [25] It is built entirely of cut stone, with the exception of the intrados of the arches which are of brick, and its seven central arches are reinforced at their base by a series of arcades forming an additional level, following a technique very popular in the 19th century.” [1: p30] The lower arcades are seen clearly in the 1929 postcard below.
This photograph is taken from the road at the point that the E74/SS20 begins to turn away from the lower railway (which can be glimpsed through the undergrowth) the viaduct high above both the road and the railway comes into view. This view looks North from the E74/SS20. A spiral tunnel allows the railway to gain height at this location. [Google Streetview, June 2025]This satellite image shows the portals of the Spiral tunnel to the East of Vernante. The line leaves Vernante Station and passes through a short tunnel before running alongside the E74 ‘Corso Torino’ to another tunnel mouth to the West of the side road. The line then climbs as it circles under that road twice and reappears high above the first length of line towards the top-left of this image. The height gained then means that the line needs to pass over a high viaduct before once again entering a tunnel (the Rivoira Tunnel) and then, at the bottom-right of the image, crossing another side valley on a bridge. [Google Maps, July 2025]OpenStreetMap shows the same location and illustrates the spiral tunnel quite well. [44]The lower portal of the spiral tunnel with the high viaduct (Rivoira Viaduct) visible to the left. [11]
The portal of the spiral tunnel at the top-left of the satellite image above, seen from a Cuneo,-bound train. Trains heading for Tende and beyond gained height while turning through 360 from the tunnel portal shown in the image immediately above. [8]
The Southeast portal of the short tunnel at the bottom-right of the satellite image above. This is the Rivoira Tunnel. [8]
The Santa Lucia viaduct just to the Southwest of Rivoira Tunnel. [8]
Between the Rivoira Tunnel and the Santa Lucia & Noceto Tunnel, the line crosses a minor road serving a few small hamlets. [Google Streetview,
The Santa Lucia & Noceto Tunnel runs diagonally across this extract from Google’s satellite imagery. [Google Maps, July 2025]
The Southeast Portal of the Santa Lucia & Noceto Tunnel seen from the cab of a Cuneo-bound train. [8]
The Noceto Viaduct to the Southeast of the Santa Lucia & Noceto Tunnel spans a local stream. [8]
This bridge is a short distance further Southeast. [8]
The Marino Viaduct further to the Southeast. All these views look towards Vernante and are taken from the cab o a Cuneo-bound train. [8]
The Southeast portal of the Marino Tunnel. [8]
Another viaduct over a short side valley to the Southeast of the Marino Tunnel, this is known as the Mezzavia Viaduct. [8]
The East portal of the Mezzavia Tunnel. [8]
Immediately to the East of the Mezzavia Tunnel the line bridges a stream before entering the Boglia Tunnel. The bridge spans the Ceresole valley. [8]
The view of the line looking West from Frazione Ceresole, above the West portal of the Boglia Tunnel. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The Boglia Tunnel carries the line around a significant curve. This is the South-southwest portal of the tunnel from the cab of a train which has recently left Limone. Trains from Cuneo enter the tunnel traveling East and leave in a south-southwesterly direction. Just beyond the South-southwest portal the line bridges another side road serving a number of hamlets. It is the San Bernardo viaduct over the Sottana valley. [8]
The bridge shown in the image immediately above is at the centre of this satellite image. The tunnel to the North-northeast is Boglia Tunnel, that to the South-southwest is Cresta Molino Tunnel. [Google Maps, July 2025]
Looking East along the Sottana Valley, it is difficult to believe that the San Bernardo Viaduct has two 6 m arches and three 10 m arches, it is so well camouflaged by vegetation. [Google Streetview, June 2025]Looking West along the road through the structure, it is possible to see three of the five arches. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The Cresta Molino Tunnel curves throughout its length (see below). Towards the South portal, it has an open gallery facing out into the valley. [8]
The Cresta Molino Tunnel curves form a South-southwest bearing to just to the East of South along its length. The gallery shown above is at its southern end. [Google Maps, July 2025]
The South portal of the Cresta Molino Tunnel is the South end of the gallery. [8]
After a very short length of track open to the elements, the line enters another short tunnel, the Rocciaia Tunnel. This tunnel is also on a curve with the line leaving the tunnel heading Southeast. [Google Maps, July 2025]
The Southeast portal of the Rocciaia Tunnel. After this tunnel the line crosses a bridge and two viaduct on its way into the station at Limone. [8]
The length of the line from Rocciaia Tunnel to the station throat at Limone is shown on the satellite image below. The parapet railings associated with the Rocciaia Bridge can be seen on the image of the South portal of the tunnel above. There are then two viaducts, as shown on the satellite image below. They cast shadows onto the valley side to the east of the line.
The bridge mentioned above, seen Looking Northwest from the cab of a Cuneo-bound train. [8]The viaduct immediately to the North of Limone Railway Station, also seen looking Northwest. [8]
Limone Piemonte as shown on OpenStreetMap. Note the bridge at the South end of the station site and the tunnel that trains enter soon after crossing that bridge. [18]
The good shed at Limone Station with the passenger facilities beyond. This image is a still from a video taken from a train heading for Breil-sur-Roya. [31]
Limone Railway Station as it appears on Google’s satellite imagery. [Google Maps, July 2025]
Looking North from the end of Via Colonello Domenico Rosetto.The goods shed is close to the centre of this image. [Google Streetview, June 2025]Limone Railway Station building and forecourt. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
A few more photographs of Limone Railway Station can be found here, [22] here, [23] and here. [24]
Express services took 1 hour 30 minutes to travel from Cuneo to Limone, mixed goods and passenger trains were scheduled to take 2 hours. Services from Limone to Cuneo were scheduled for 1 hour 20 minutes and 1 hour 50 minutes respectively [1: p31]
Banaudo et al tell us that a single third class ticket between Cuneo and Limone cost 1.65 lire. The service was deemed to be a local service and as a result the RM allocated older stock to the line, “consisting mainly of single-axle coaches, side door stock, and brake vans acquired from other companies. Traction was provided by 030 [in the UK these would be 0-6-0] locomotives coupled to two- or three-axle tenders, from the RM 3201 to 3550 series (future 215 FS Class),” [1: p31] out-stationed to the Cuneo shed by the Turin Shed. These locos had a range of different manufacturers in Italy, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Austria and Germany. [1: p31]
The construction costs for the length of line from Cuneo to Limone “did not exceed 10 million lire, a remarkable figure given the difficulty of the work and the number of engineering structures completed over nine years: nineteen bridges and viaducts, fourteen tunnels, and a large number of culverts, aqueducts, road overpasses and underpasses, and level crossings. The buildings of the seven stations are of classical design, conforming to the standard plans with hipped roofs used in Italy, as are the twenty-four ‘caselli’, roadside houses, distributed along the line near the level crossings and the main underpasses to house the track maintenance workers and their families. The bridges and viaducts, with the exception of two brick structures, are made of stone masonry with brick arch vaults and metal angle railings. The single track tunnels are lined with brick vaults and dressed stone portals, except where the solidity of the ground allows the exposed natural rock to be preserved.” [1: p32]
Banaudo et al note that “the first years of operation were not easy, … snow and falling rocks sometimes hampered train traffic. On 2nd October 1898, following torrential rains in the high valleys of Piedmont, the Gesso overflowed and the bridge between Boves and Borgo-San-Dalmazzo was destroyed. By December, the installation of a temporary wooden bridge by contractor Salvatore Vignolo of Genova-Sampierdarena allowed service to be restored. A permanent structure would be rebuilt the following year in the form of a single-span 74-metre steel truss bridge.” [1: p32]
Limone to Vievola: Crossing the Col de Tende
The next length/tranche running South from Limone was 10.5 kilometres long and extended the line from Limone to Vievola(in the valley of the River Roya).
Looking into Limone Railway Station from the tunnel mouth South of the Station. A short two-span bridge
At the South end of the Limone Station site the railway bridged Piazza Risorgimento/Viale Valleggia at the East end of Piazza Risorgimento and the River San Giovanni (Valleggia Torrent) on two adjoining bridges. [Google Maps, July 2025]The two bridges carrying the railway over both the road and the river. [Google Streetview, August 2011]
Omitting mention of the section of the bridge over the road, Banaudo et al tell us that, leaving Limone Station, “the line crosses the San Giovanni valley … on a 13-metre masonry single-arch bridge, then enters the 423-metre-long Limone Tunnel which passes under the San Secondo hill. A 26 mm/m gradient leads to the tunnel under the ‘Colle do Tenda’ … where the gradient eases to 2 mm/m as far as the highest point on the line, 1040 [metres above sea level, in the tunnel]. From this point a 14mm/m gradient extends to the South portal of the tunnel … at 990 [metres above sea level]. At the Southern end of the tunnel, … a single-span 19.90 m steel truss bridge crosses the Roya River. … A short 25 mm/m slope then leads to Vievola Station.” [1: p34]
The railway is protected by two galleries at the South end of Limone Tunnel. The first effectively extends Limone Tunnel southwards. This is the South portal seen from a train approaching Limone Railway Station. [8]
Also seen from the South from the cab of the same train, this is the South portal of the Short second gallery. The gallery entrance to the tunnel above can be seen only a very short distance beyond this gallery to the North. [8]
A level-crossing on the line just to the South of the galleries illustrated above and also seen from a Limone-bound train. [8]
The northern approach to the tunnel under the Col de Tende as it appears on Google’s satellite imagery. Sadly, the tunnel mouth, in the top-left quadrant of this image, is in shade. [Google Earth 3D, July 2025]
Open Streetmap shows the line heading South into the tunnel. [32]
This image shows the North Portal of the tunnel under the Col de Tende. It is taken from the cab of a train heading for Breil-sur-Roya in the late 20th century. [31]
Interestingly, the two tunnels on this length of the line are large enough to accommodate two tracks – this facilitates ventilation but also allows room for expansion should traffic levels later require it. [1: p34]
Another schematic drawing which this time shows the main locations on the line from Limone to Vievola. [17]
While all the previous construction tranches ended up in populated locations, Vievola was just a place name in the commune of Tende with a few farms and a chapel dedicated to the Visitation of the Madonna scattered in a small green area at the confluence of the Roya and the Dente rivers. Nowhere was available to house workers on the railway. So before works began at the southern end of the tunnel under the Col de Tende, the contractor had to construct a temporary village.
After initial surveys were completed late in 1889, tunneling under the Col de Tende began at both ends. Banaudo et al explain that the 8.1 kilometre tunnel passed through various different strata: “Jurassic, Triassic and Cretaceous limestone, Permian quartz, Liassic marly schists and Eocene sandstone. The work progressed normally until September 1893, when the works reached a dislocated gneiss bed interspersed with clayey layers made fluid by the infiltration of water from the Roya, whose bed passes three times above the axis of the tunnel. Soon, mud floods invaded the approach tunnel with each attempt to advance over the course of ten months. The working face advanced only a dozen meters, while some forty flows of various materials obstructed the tunnel, sometimes over a length of 40 metres, while the vault suffered as much as 1.7 metres subsidence in places.” [1: p32][33]
The works from the South were suspended in July 1894 about 1.6 km from the tunnel mouth. Attempts were made to divert ground water from the route of the tunnel with little success and a further collapse occurred in October 1894. [33]
Meanwhile, work progressed from the North until at about 2.7 km from the tunnel mouth ground water started entering the tunnel at a rate of 60,000 litres/minute. The bed of the River Royal above the tunnel began to collapse. The contractor admitted defeat and refused to continue work on the line. [1: p34][33]
After a few months delay and with the work now being undertaken by the state a renewed effort was made to take the work-faces forward. The solution was to bore the tunnel using compressed air drills inside a metal shield and with water being removed by a parallel collector channel. It took 470 days to progress the works beyond the difficult strata. Banaudo et al say that once work was 43 metres beyond the critical zone, the contract was handed back to the original contractor on 31st March 1896. The total delay was 34 months at a cost of 300,000 lire! [1: p34][33]
On 15th February 1898 at 1pm, the team working from the North end of the tunnel broke through the remaining rock to meet the team working from the South.Remaining contract works would mean that opening of the line between Limone and Vievola would not take place until 1st October 1900. [33][34: p116][1: p35]
When trains left the confines of the 8 kilometre tunnel their crews were probably grateful for the fresh air. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for the crews of steam engines on the line. Electrification could not come soon enough. “The tunnel was equipped with a two-wire contact line when the electrification of Cuneo Gesso – San Dalmazzo di Tenda line in three-phase alternating current 3.6 kV – 16⅔ Hz took place with electric traction starting from 15th May 1931.” [33][35: p171-172]
South of the tunnel, the railway crosses the River Roya before entering Vievola Railway Station.
This satellite image shows the line leaving the tunnel (at the very top of the image) and crossing La Roya (towards the bottom of the image). [Google Maps, July 2025]
It is not possible to see the tunnel mouth in this panoramic photograph taken from the E74 (D6204), nor is it possible to see the railway bridge over La Roya. The railway can be seen, as can the buildings close to the tunnel mouth on the East side of the line. The railway bridge over the river is behind the trees in blossom one a line from the camera to the red-roofed buildings. [Google Streetview, April 2008]As the E74 (D6204) descends along the valley of the Rya, the railway bridges it, adjacent to a road (off to the right of the picture) which serves Vievola Railway Station. [Google Streetview, October 2008]
The completion of the fifth contract still required the development of Vievola station. It was to be built on a large platform created using spoil from the tunnel works on a vast embankment formed from the tunnel spoil, with an underpass provided for the then SS20 (now E74/D6204) and shown above.
The approach to Vievola Railway Station from the South, as seen from the cab of a Northbound train. [8]
Banaudo et al tell us that, at the station, “The two platform tracks for passenger service were supplemented by two sidings and a dead-end track running alongside the goods shed and the military platform. At the western end of this section, a small wooden shed, an 8.50 m temporary turntable, a water tower, and two hydraulic cranes allowed locomotives to use this temporary terminus as they would at any terminus. In the same area, a wooden buffet building was built, which a shrewd manager, no doubt hoping to take advantage of the cosmopolitan movement of connecting passengers, dubbed a ‘restaurant’ in French.” [1: p40]
Vievola was a railway terminal for traffic to and from Piedmont and a hub for road connections onwards to Nice and Liguria. Banaudo et al point us to a magazine published in 1899, which mentions a trial of a steam-powered road vehicle which it was hoped would provide a service to Nice and the coast until such time as a railway was built. [1: p40][37] The service was a trial organised by the House of Ascenso et Cie, and ran from Vievola to Ventimiglia. The journey, lasted a total of six hours, including a 43-kilometre climb. The vehicles used were Scotte trains. The car wagon carries a 27-horsepower engine and seated 14 passengers; it also towed a second 24-seater wagon. [1: p40][38]
“Due to their slowness, the difficulties of driving cars on the narrow roads of the time and the damage caused to the cobbled and cylindered roads,” [1: p40] the ‘Trains Scotte’ were not a success, they probably did not circulate for more than a few months or weeks. ….
The next length of the line can be found here. [46]
RM 3201-3519 (FS 215)Locomotives
Banaudo et al tell us that throughout the 19th century and on into the 20th century passenger stock and freight wagons were unchanged. Improved 0-6-0 tender locomotives came available as they were delivered by the Breda and Mavag companies, these were more powerful and faster locomotives than the RM Nos. 3201 to 3519 (which became group 215.001 to 215.398 at the FS). They were given RM Nos. 3801-3868 (which became the FS 310 series).
Banaudo et al also comment that “genuine mountain locomotives made occasional appearances: these were 040s [ in UK annotation 0-8-0s] with a three-axle separate tender, series RM 4201 to 4487 (future series 420 FS), built from 1873 to 1905 based on an Austrian model by a dozen Italian, Belgian, German and Austro-Hungarian firms. These machines, reserved primarily for the main lines of the Alps and the Apennines, occasionally intervened on the Col de Tende line, during bridge tests for example. At this time, Cuneo still had no allocation of machines and those going up to Limone and Vievola were attached to the Torino depot and the Moretta shed, on the Cuneo Airasca line.” [1: p41]
An FS Class 420 locomotive. [41]
“In the early 1870s, the SFAI needed a locomotive suitable for heavy work on the most important mountain lines, such as the Giovi railway and the Turin-Modane railway, for which the 0-6-0 locomotives were becoming increasingly inadequate. The Ufficio d’Arte di Torino chose a 0-8-0 locomotive of the Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik (then known as “Sigl”), very similar to the Südbahn Class 35 a that it already produced.” [41][42: p190][43: p31]]
“The Class 420 was a typical long-boiler, inside-frame 0-8-0 locomotive of the era, that showed its Austrian derivation with its two-shutters smokebox door, and its outside Stephenson valve gear. The locomotives built before 1884 had the distinction of having curved foot plating over the wheels, while later units had straight foot plating and small splashers. Some of the locomotives were given a replacement boiler before 1914, but their performance remained mostly unchanged.” [41][43: p31]
“The first 60 locomotives were built by Sigl (from which they derived the nickname with which they were known for their whole career) for the SFAI. Production continued until 1890, from both foreign (such as Maffei) and Italian firms (such as Ansaldo and Breda), for a total of 189 locomotives; all these were divided in 1885 between the Rete Adriatica and the Rete Mediterranea. Building of further locomotives for the RM resumed in 1897, and continued until 1905, bringing the total of the Class to 293.” [41][42: p190-192]
References
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 1: 1858-1928; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 2: 1929-1974; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 3: 1975-1986; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Structures on the french side of the border would, when built, compete with the dimensions of the Rivoira Viaduct. The Eboulis Viaduct is 270 metres long and the bridge at Saorge is 60 metres high. However, the combination of these two dimensions (length and height) makes Rivoira Viaduct the most imposing on the line.
Franco Collidà; 1845-1979: the Cuneo-Nice line year by year; in Rassegna – Quarterly magazine of the Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo , No. 7, September 1979; p12-18.
Franco Collidà, Max Gallo & Aldo A. Mola; “Cuneo-Nizza: History of a Railway; , Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, Cuneo (CN), July 1982.
Industrialist Joanny Scotte, originally from Epernay in the Marne department, began his business in the mid-1880s producing steam-powered cars. From 1897, he offered road trains consisting of a tractor or a steam-powered car, pulling one or more trailers designed for the transport of passengers or goods. These vehicles travelled on roads using solid tyres. They never really went beyond the experimental stage due to their slowness, the difficulties of driving the vehicles on the narrow roads of the time and the damage caused to the cobbled and cylindered roads. [1: p40] Scotte road train services were reported in the last decade of the 19th century in the Île-de-France region (Fontainebleau, Pont-de-Neuilly, Courbevoie), in the Aube region (Arcis-sur-Aube – Brienne-le-Château), in the Manche region (Pont-l’Abbé-Picauville – Chef-du-Pont), in the Drôme region (Valence – Crest), and for military use. Scotte partnered with the Lyon-based car manufacturers Buire and Audibert-Lavirotte to produce some of its vehicles. [1: p41]
Giovanni Cornolò; Locomotive a vapore; in TuttoTreno (in Italian), May 2014.
P. M. Kalla-Bishop; Italian state railways steam locomotives: together with low-voltage direct current and three-phase motive power; Tourret, Abingdon, 1986.
The railway from Nice PLM Station to Tende was completed in 1928. It was long in the gestation and in construction. The story stretches back more than a century and a half. ‘Le Chemin de fer du Col de Tende’ is historically a significant local and international line. Its inverted Y-shaped layout and its crossing of international borders means that it is known by a number of different names:
in Nice it is known as the Nice – Coni Line;
generally in Italy it is officially Ferrovia Cuneo Ventimiglia
in the Piedmont city of Cuneo’s economic/political circles, sitting at the top of the inverted ‘Y’, it is often referred to as the Cuneo – Nizza line in recognition of good relations with the community of Nice.
Its story is a saga of significant technical achievement: gaining 1000 metres in height ; having a dozen tunnels longer than 1 kilometre (including those of the Col de Tende (8098 m), the Col de Braus (5939 m) and the Mont Grazian tunnel (3882 m), which are among the longest structures on the French and Italian networks); having four complete helical loops, several S-shaped loops and a multitude of bridges and viaducts (some of which, such as those of Scarassouï or Bévéra, are architecturally significant railway structures. Of a total route of 143.5 km, 6.5 km are on bridges or viaducts and over 60 km are in tunnels. This means that close to 42% of the journey along the line(s) is on or within structures.
The line warrants a comprehensive detailed treatment and Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos have provided just such a work. The 3 volumes of their work cover three distinct periods in the life of the line:
Volume 1: 1858 until the completion of construction in 1928; [1]
Volume 2: 1929 through to 1974 [2]
Volume 3: 1975 to 1986. [3]
The line’s construction spanned over 40 years and as a result a variety of different structural techniques were used. The first length built in Italy in the 19th century has some substantial stone and brick structures. Later work on the length from Nice to Fontane which was built between the two world wars employs much lighter design techniques. Then even later, after sections of the line were destroyed in the second world war, prestressed concrete construction techniques were used in the rebuilding of the line. [1]
The history of the area through which the line has been built has been tumultuous. This meant that the process of developing the line was tortuous. It took more than 75 years for the line(s) to be completed and then after a few short years of operation, the lines usage was disturbed by the machinations of dictatorships and then the second world war literally destroyed the region. Post war recovery was slow but nowhere more so than the length of the line between Ventimiglia and Breil-sur-Roya which was not fully reopened until 35 years after the end of the second world war. [1]
The reopening of the line after the second world war was vital for the economic development of Piedmont, the Riviera dei Fiori, and the Côte d’Azur – between which there was no efficient road connection and where the difficult terrain favored rail access. [1]
The immediate area offered tremendous tourism potential, both the train itself and the region it served. Ski resorts became accessible, particularly Limone, excursion trains came from all over Europe. But, after just a few decades of development the approach of the 21st century saw increased bureaucracy, financial disputes between the increasing number of partners, contradictory regulations and increased journey times. The result was that the line’s value and existence was called into question and that too sparked further conflict. “Paradoxically, European unification, which should have fully promoted this symbolic communication route, marginalized it!” [1: p5]
In 2014, my wife and I stayed in the village of Saorge in the valley of La Roya for the first time. We had travelled by train from Nice to Tende in an earlier year. In 2014, we had a hire car and on one occasion we followed the old road to the Col de Tende. In subsequent years it was not possible to drive up the old road as works on the much more modern tunnel seemed to have blocked access to the old road. On a more recent visit, we stayed in Saorge a year after serious flooding had destroyed much infrastructure in the valley. Travel towards the Col de Tende from Tende was not possible.
Early attempts to create a route from Cuneo toTende
In 2014, we drove up a road which was constructed by le duc Charles-Emmanuel 1er de Savoie (Duke Charles Emmanuel 1st of Savoy). It seems that he constructed a road over the pass between 1592 and 1616. Of this road, Banaudo et al say that, “the northern road [up to the pass] has about twenty hairpin bends, while access from the south requires an extraordinary … sixty hairpin bends.” [1: p9]
Our hire car was a very small vehicle, but nonetheless needed some careful manoeuvring at each hairpin bend. Once at the top, we were able to walk quite a distance between the different forts that stood on the ridge.
Banuado et al, tell us that since that route was constructed, a series of attempts were made to tunnel from lower points on the pass. Attempts from the North were made: in 1612 (achieved just 75m of tunnel before being halted); in 1781 which was abandoned 3 years later (164m of tunnel was achieved). [1]
In 1784, a carriage managed to traverse the pass for the first time.
Banaudo et al. Tell us that “the public works engineer Deglioli submitted an initial report on 3rd June 1852, supported by the diplomat Francesco Sauli (1807-1893), on the extension of the Marseille-Var railway, then planned in France, to Nice, Ventimiglia, the Roya Valley, and Piedmont, namely Cuneo or Mondovì.” [1: p11]
In 1854, the first train of the Società della Ferrovia Torino Cuneo arrived in Cuneo from Turin (via Trofarello, Savigliano, and Fossano). The first terminus was built in the Cuneo suburb of “Madonna-dell’Olmo, on the left bank of the Stura below the city. Ten months later, the time required for the completion of the viaduct over the Stura, Cavour and the Minister of Public Works, Pietro Paleocapa (1788-1869), presided over the inauguration of the new Cuneo platform/station on 5th August 1855, established in a temporary location at Basse-di-San-Sebastiano. The permanent station would not be built until 1870 on the plateau preceding the confluence of the Stura and Gesso rivers.” [1: p11]
In 1856, “Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia, Cyprus and Jerusalem, Duke of Savoy and Aosta, Prince of Piedmont, Count of Nice and Tende, visited [Nice and] personally promised [a] railway to the people of Nice and distributed a lithograph depicting him, ostentatiously bearing a map bearing the dedication ‘Ferrovia da Cuneo a Nizza. Ai Fedeli Nizzardi’. … The Minister of Public Works commissioned a Roman military engineer, Filippo Cerrotti (1819-1892), to conduct a more in-depth study. On 29th May 1856, Cerrotti submitted a preliminary design for a standard-gauge line from Cuneo, ascending the Gesso and Vermegnana valleys, crossing the Col de Tende through a 6.5 km tunnel accessible by inclined planes powered by hydraulic funiculars, to emerge in the Roya River, which it followed to Airole. From there, two tunnels successively would take it through the Bévéra Valley and then into the Latte Valley, through which it reached the coast, which it then followed to Menton, Monaco, and Nice.” [1: p11]
The Nicois authorities accepted the proposed scheme in September 1856, their counterparts in Cuneo quickly endorsed the plans in principle but asked that an alternative route via the Col des Fenestres and the Vésubie, be explored and that a modification to the initial proposal should be explored, specifically a locomotive-powered line without the use of inclined planes. The municipality of Nice then commissioned another survey of alternative routes by Louis Petit-Nispel, but proposals were rejected by the Ministry of Public Works on 4th March 1858. [1: p11, p14]
Nothing happened, so the Nice authorities sent a petition to the Sardinian parliament (16th July 1858) but the request got lost in the midst of political machinations which surrounded the cession of Savoy and the County of Nice to France which was eventually confirmed on 22nd April 1860.
“During his first visit to the new border department in September 1860, the French Emperor promised the people of Nice a rapid connection to Marseille and the rest of the country via the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean Railway Company (PLM) line, whose construction was then well advanced beyond Toulon.” [1: p14]
Nice got its connection to Marseille by 18th October 1864, but hopes for a Nice to Cuneo link were overshadowed by the desire to have a direct link between Marseille and Turin via Sisteron, Gap, Briançon, the Col de l’Echelle, and Bardonecchia – a plan was eventually shelved (even though it was favoured by the French government and the PLM company) as a result of the deal-making associated with the Saint-Gothard line.
In the mid-1860s the Piedmontese railway network became part of the Società per le Ferrovie dell’Alta Italia (SFAI). Its focus became developing internal infrastructure in Italy, with the exception of a very large project … a 13.7 km (8.5 mile) long tunnel, carrying the Turin-Modane railway line under Mont Cenis, linking Bardonecchia in Italy to Modane in France under the Fréjus. [1: p17][8]
Despite this, economic and political groups in Cuneo remained committed to having a rail link and in 1868 proposed a joint commission of French and Italian engineers. The following year, “the provincial authorities granted a loan of 500,000 lire to the Lombard engineer Tommaso Agudio (1827-1893), who sought to develop the possibilities offered by funicular traction. He, in collaboration with the engineer Arnaud, recommended the construction of a narrow-gauge railway alongside the SS 20 national road, along its entire route from Cuneo to Ventimiglia. This hypothesis suggested curves with a radius of less than 50 m and gradients of 45 mm/m. The Tende Pass was to be crossed by the planned road tunnel, with two access ramps sloping at 87.5 mm/m, on which traction would be provided by a hydraulically counterweighted cable.” [1: p17]
His project was approved by the Italian parliament in 1862 but no progress was made on the French side of the border. The project failed and Tommaso Agudio moved on to other things, “experimenting with his cable traction system in 1874 in Lanslebourg, then by applying it in 1884 to the railway linking the Turin suburb of Sassi to the famous Basilica of Superga.” [1: p17]
With little progress being made on a rail link, road links became paramount, a commission chaired by the civil engineering inspector Sebastiano Grandis (1817-1892) renewed interest in 1870 in a road tunnel under the Col de Tende which Grandis imagined would obviate the need for a railway.
“Following the fall of the Empire, France and Italy were finally connected by rail, first through the Fréjus Tunnel, opened between Modane and Bardonecchia on 17th September 1871, and then through the Menton and Ventimiglia on the coast on 23rd February 1872. At the same time, traffic between Piedmont and the former County of Nice was growing at an encouraging pace: the Fontan customs post recorded an annual transit of 22,000 tons of goods and 76,447 head of cattle. Under these rather favorable conditions, Nice’s business community sought to revive discussions with a view to attracting to their port a share of the benefits of the upcoming opening of the Saint-Gothard line, whose traffic, they feared, would exclusively benefit Genoa via the Via Giovi, or Marseille in the event of the construction of the Col de l’Echelle route. In April 1871, a group of industrialists and politicians from the region, including the mayor of Nice, Auguste Raynaud (1829-1896) and his counterpart from Toulon, Vincent Allègre (1835-1899), founded a Syndicate for the Nice Cuneo Line with the support of the Alpes-Maritimes Chamber of Commerce. On 7th November, the municipal council sent a personal letter to Adolphe Thiers, the new President of the French Republic, to express the desire of the people of Nice to see this project, which had been on hold for some twenty years, realized. On 29th November, the syndicate appointed a study commission headed by engineer Joseph Durandy (1834-1912), … to establish contacts with interested Italian parties and determine the advantages and disadvantages of each proposed route.” [1: p19]
“In March 1872, the engineer Henry Lefèvre (1825-1877), a public works contractor and member of parliament for the Alpes-Maritimes, published an ambitious programme comprising two railway lines, Nice – Digne and Nice – Cuneo. They would run as a common trunk up the Var valley to the confluence of the Vésubie; from there, the branch towards Piedmont would follow this river to its source, crossing the Pagari pass under a 7000 m tunnel drilled at an altitude of 1300 m, to then reach Cuneo via the Gesso valley. The gradients would not exceed 35 mm/m, which would however require several reversals from Venanson, as well as the use of articulated Fairlie locomotives.” [1: p19][9]
Lefèvre’s project was based on poor maps and went through areas with a high risk of avalanches and heavy snowfall. Durandy suggested that a longer tunnel (almost 15km long) could be employed, Delestrac suggested following the undulations/contours on the left bank of the Vésubie as much as possible to reduce the number of engineering structures and limit the gradients to 25 mm/m.” [1: p19] Both these suggestions significantly increased the costs of Lefèvre’s 120 km project.
Other projects were proposed:
In 1872, Séraphin Piccon proposed a “103 km long narrow-gauge route, crossing the Col de Tende through a 5100 m tunnel at a height of 1150 m. Descending the valley of la Roya to Piena, reaching the Bévéra basin and Sospel through a 1300 m tunnel under the Col de Vèscavo, then heading up the Merlanson valley to pass under Mont Méras through a new tunnel leading to Peille, and thence to Nice through down the valley of the Paillon. Access to the Col de Tende would be via two inclined planes with inclinations of 40 to 85 mm/m totaling a length of 6100 m, while a 60 mm/m gradient over 4700 m would allow the line to gain altitude north of Peille.” [10] On these steep gradients, traction would be assisted by a rack or an auxiliary central rail (the Fell System). [11][1: p20]
Also in 1872, Baron A. Cachiardy de Montfleury of Breil submitted a renewed proposal to the Conseil General, based on the Narrow-Gauge route between Cuneo and Ventimiglia funicular sections developed by engineers Agudio and Arnaud. [12][1: p20]
Then in April 1873, Baron Marius de Vautheleret. presented a proposal for a narrow-gauge Cuneo-Ventimiglia line using the planned Col de Tende road tunnel, passing through Briga, then through a 13,000 m tunnel under the Marta peak and then along the Nervia valley to its mouth near Ventimiglia. This route aimed to simplify administrative procedures by bypassing French territory, even if it meant creating a costly underground tunnel to connect the Roya to the Nervia river valleys. Gradients would not exceed 35 mm/m except for 22 km on either side of the Col de Tende, where gradients of 38 to 40 mm/m would require the adoption of a rack or hydraulic funicular. [13][14][1: p20]
These last two projects were discarded, partly because they were narrow gauge and required steep gradients, neither of which would suit the anticipated important international traffic and partly because they only linked two Italian cities while passing through French territory and not serving Nice. Both the protagonists continued to push their case until the end of the 19th century.
The first project proposal by Piccon was also deemed incompatible with heavy traffic flows but in its favour was the intent to link the railway to Nice. The “Durandy Commission preferred this option, subject to significant technical adjustments, such as adopting the standard gauge and replacing the inclined planes with longer base tunnels. On this route, the syndicate hoped for annual freight traffic of 90,000 tons despite a higher cost per kilometre than the routes via the Tinée or the Careï, as well as a revival of passenger traffic.” [1: p20]
The PLM had little enthusiasm for the proposed line as their experience of lines in the Alps encountered technical difficulties and had profitability problems
In 1878, the Minister of Public Works, Charles de Freycinet (1828-1923), asked regional authorities to consider possible lines to become part of a network of secondary lines across the country. The Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes submitted the line ‘from Nice to the Italian border’, running from Nice to Turin via the Paillon Valley, the Col de Nice, L’Escarène, the Col de Braus, Sospel, the Col de Brouis, Breil, the Roya Valley, and the Col de Tende. This route was registered No. 142 in the network in the law of 17th July 1879, where it appeared alongside the Nice – Digne via Saint-André and Nice – Draguignan via Grasse lines. [1: p21]
While the Cuneo-Nice line was a low priority for the national government in Italy, but Piedmont and Liguria did not give up, encouraged by the interest on the French side of the border. A number of different schemes were considered (from Baron de Vautheleret, Giacomo Pisani and Domenico Santelli).
Renewed interest at a national level led, in April 1876, the ‘conseil superieur des Travaux Publics’ approved the principle of a Cuneo – Ventimiglia railway, following the Roya along its entire course, including crossing French territory. The estimated cost for the 86 km on Italian soil was 38 million lire.
Two years later, while France was preparing its “Freycinet plan”, Italy had its ‘loi Baccarini’ (law 5002) which was passed in parliament on 25th July 1879 and included for a secondary line ‘from Cuneo to the sea’, “leaving all options open South of the Col de Tende so as not to prematurely offend any interests.” [1: p23]
By the end of July 1879, the process seemed well underway but no one allowed for the political machinations that would follow.
“The first disappointments emerged in France in 1880 during the budget debates, where the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Léon Gambetta (1838-1882), postponed the vote on construction funding. On 22nd July, the General Council of Bridges and Roads rejected an initial project, which included 30 mm/m gradients and 300 m radius curves, as too costly. In November 1881, the Ministry of War was even more categorical, formally opposing the extension of the railway beyond Sospel, and demanding that it serve the village of Lucéram from L’Escarène, the supply base for the defensive sector of L’Authion, Turini and Peïra-Cava. In this case, the line would have to adopt even more severe characteristics: 40 mm/m gradients, 150 m radius curves, switchbacks to cross the Col de Nice and helical loops to reach Lucéram…” [1: p24]
“In 1882, an important step towards opening up the Haute Roya region was taken with the commissioning of the Col de Tende road tunnel. … This structure, remarkable for its time, was designed for the movement of carts, horses, pedestrians and. cannons, because the defense of the Tenda and Briga area was a major concern for the Italian general staff! The journey now avoided the countless hairpin bends of the pass and the risk of snowstorms and avalanches.” [1: p24]
The Col de Tende Road Tunnel and the border between France and Italy. [17]
But while economic and emotional ties remained strong between Cuneo and Nice, they were weakening between Rome and Paris due to political, commercial, and colonial rivalries that would poison relations … for about fifteen years. The attitude of the city of Marseille was also difficult. The business community in Marseille was hostile to a new rail link between Nice and Italy. Fearing the expansion of the port of Nice at their expense. They lobbied against any possible expansion of the port of Nice, even to the extent of thwarting standard-gauge lines from Nice to Digne and Draguignan, ensuring that the lines were built to metre-gauge (with less transport capacity and obligatory double-handling of loads). [1: p24]
Locally, in Nice, some pushed for the line to be metre-gauge, thinking that might iron out the technical difficulties and strategic objections. [1: p24] Faced by the administrative impasse which stalled the project in France , the French Ministry of Public Works decided to close its Nice design office on 1st September 1887. Italy, however, worked unilaterally with the intention of opening up the Haute Roya without prejudging the continuation of the route towards France. [1: p24]
From 1882 until 1900 it was the Italians that took the initiative. A delegation from Cuneo secured 29.5 million lire from the Italian Minister of Public Works. The first length of the scheme received local approval on 25th March 1882. Work on site started in April 1882 on the length of the line from Cuneo to Vernante.
The present railway station in Cuneo dates from the late 1930s the older station is known as Cuneo Gesso Statzione. At the time of the building of the Line from Cuneo towards Nice and Ventimiglia, Cuneo’s railway station sat alongside the Gesso River across the town from the present station.
The original Cuneo Railway Station from which the line to Nice and Ventimiglia left in a southerly direction. This image was taken in 1903. It was shared on the Facebook Nel dipartimento della Stura – Cuneo – pagina. [19]This second photograph of Cuneo’s original railway station which was on the banks of the River Gesso shows both the station building and the bridge which carried the railway over the river. This image was taken in 1905. It was shared on the Facebook Nel dipartimento della Stura – Cuneo – pagina on 16th November 2017. [20]Although dated 6th October 1979 this postcard image originated in the early years of the 20th century. It shows the Cuneo Gesso Station as it was at the turn of the 20th century. The postcard was made to commemorate the reopening of the international railway line that connects the city of Cuneo with the city of Nice. This image was shared on the Facebook Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza page on 11th December 2017. [21]
The railway initially arrived from Turin, via Fossano. It came as far as Madonna dell’Olmo opposite Cuneo across the Sturia River on 16th October 1854 where a small building was built to serve as a temporary station. On 5th August 1855 the inaugural train from Cuneo left for Turin. In the same year the municipality built a bridge over the Sturia (at its own expense). After the construction of the bridge over the Stura, a second temporary station was built on an embankment in the San Sebastiano plain (where Giuseppe Garibaldi had arrived to visit his “Alpine Hunters” in 1856). Only in 1870 was a significant edifice completed which became Cuneo’s railway station. It was alongside the Gesso River and it was again built entirely at the town’s expense. [19]
The complete opening of the Cuneo-Ventimiglia line, which took place on 30th October 1928, caused significant logistical problems for both travellers and rolling stock at Cuneo station. The old depot, dating back to 1864, soon became insufficient to house the locomotives of the new line, [23: p41] a hastily built locomotive depot was provided (because of delays creating the new line and new railway station, and in the construction of the large mixed-use viaduct over the Stura di Demonte. [24][25]
The Locomotive Depot at Cuneo Gesso Station which was used until the new depot close to Cuneo Altipiano Railway Station was opened. The site was repurposed – it became a sawmill. This plan comes from From the December 1929 Technical Magazine of Italiane Ferrovie., It was shared on the Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group on 13th February 2024 by Francesco Ciarlini Koerner. [62]
The new depot was placed beyond the embankment of the road to Mondovì. A double track arched bridge took the tracks under the road. [26][27] On 7th November 1937[24] the new Cuneo Altipiano station was opened, located to the west of the city centre and connected to the new locomotive depot built on the right side of the Stura River. [24][25]
Cuneo Gesso quickly lost importance, remaining active only as a stopping point for the lines to Mondovì and Boves , the latter closed to traffic in 1960. [23: p55-57][25]
Near the station was the terminus of the Cuneo-Dronero, [28] Cuneo-Saluzzo [29] and Cuneo-Boves [30] tramways, active for different years between 1879 and 1948 [25][31: p120]. The Cuneo Boves line opened in 1903 and closed in 1935.
Ex Stazione Ferrovia Di Cuneo Gesso as it appears on Google Maps satellite imagery. he river is the Gesso Torrent and a modern concrete bridge now spans the river. The line heading South from the station originally served a temporary Locomotive depot but now serves the sawmill that replaced the depot. [Google Maps, July 2025]The old station buildings seen from the Southwest. The building is in use as a cafe/bar. Tracks remain in place beyond the building. [Google Streetview, May 2025]The bridge which now carries the railway over the River Gesso. [Google Streetview, 2022]
Construction of the new line started in 1882, it left the station to the South curving sharply to the left to cross the Gesso River on a 3-arch brick viaduct (each span was 24.8 metres) shared with the line from Cuneo to Mondovi which was under construction at the same time. [1: p25]
The line to Mondovi remains today, but no passenger trains use the line any longer. The line we are following from Cuneo to Vernante, left the line to Mondovi heading Southwest and passing through the villages of Boves and Fontanelle-di-Boves. Provision for freight and passengers was made at Boves, just for passengers at Fontanelle-di-Boves.
Preparing for this article, I found a document from 1904 which included the plans and profiles of the line on the Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group. It was shared as a series of photographs by Davide Franchini on 2nd March 2022.
The 1904 document cover. [47]The first plan shows the bridge crossing the River Gesso with the line heading for Nice and Ventimiglia bearing away from the line to Moldovi. [47]The line heading South. [47]The route of the old railway from Cuneo Gesso to Borgo-San-Dalmazzo, (c) Ale Sasso and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence, (CC BY-SA 4.0). [32]
As far as I can tell, the line to Boves has been built over. It seems to have followed the route of Via del Borgo Gesso South from the river bridge, then Via Bisalta, then Highway SP21 to Boves where the line curved back towards the River Gesso. Boves station was on a relatively sharp curve in the line. [33]
Boves Railway Station building. [35]A similar view of Boves Railway Station in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The altered station building as seen from the Southeast. [Google Streetview, 2012]The goods shed/warehouse seen from the East. [Google Streetview, 2012]The goods shed at Boves, seen from the West on the SP21. The original station building can be seen on the left of this image. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The location of Boves Railway Station in the 21st century. Via Gastalato (SP21) runs along the old railway line. The main station building has a silver coloured roof and sits at the centre of this satellite image. The goods warehouse costs to the West of the main station building and has a red roof. [Google Maps, July 2025]
Boves station had a passing loop and two sidings. The passenger building, converted into residential housing several years ago, was adjacent to a goods warehouse, now used as a provincial warehouse. [35]
Boyes Railway Station plan. [47]The line beyond Boves Railway Station ran through Fontanelle di Boves and then crossed the River Gesso again. [47]
The hamlet of Fontanelle di Boves was just a short distance beyond Boves Railway Station. It had its own passenger station which opened in 1942 after the line from here back to Cuneo was replaced by a new line on the other side of the River Gesso which ran into the new station at Cuneo. Just a short distance further down the line was the viaduct which took the line back over the River Gesso. Originally, this was a masonry structure of three 24.8 metre arched spans. [1: p25] The viaduct was overwhelmed and destroyed by a flood of the Gesso on the afternoon of 2nd October 1898. It was then replaced with the current 74 m metal truss girder bridge. [34]
This photograph shows the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the bridge between Fontanelle-di-Boves and Borgo San-Dalmazzo. It was shared on the Ferrovia Internazionale Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nizza Facebook Group by Mario Zauli on 29th February 2024. As well as appearing on the Facebook Group, Banaudo et al include the picture in their book. They comment: “On 2nd October 1898, the Southern Alps suffered violent floods that swept away the three-arched masonry viaduct over the Gesso between Boves and Borgo San-Dalmazzo, built in 1883. It was rebuilt as a metal truss bridge, but initially trains used a temporary structure on wooden beams. In December 1898, this was tested by the passage of locomotive No. 4333 of type 040, series 4201 to 4493 of the Rete Mediterranea. (Photo Giacinto Garaffi – Diego Garel collection).” [37][1: p26]
The bridge is known as Ponte di Sant’Andrea, a second truss was positioned alongside the railway bridge and together the two bridges now carry the SP21.
After crossing the River Gesso and at about 12 km from Cuneo the line arrived at Borgo-San-Dalmazzo.
This schematic map shows the two rail routes. The solid line shows the original alignment that we have just been following. The dotted line shows the route built at the end of the 1930s. The two lines met to the West of Pont Sant’Andre. The 1937-built station is on the banks of the Stura River on the West side of Cuneo and on the dotted line. [34]The bridge (Ponte di Sant’Andrea) is flagged in the bottom-right, the newer line from Cuneo enters this image middle-top and runs down to the bottom-left. The older line curved round from the SP21 and its route is marked by the curved field boundary. [Google Maps, July 2025]
Returning to the 1937-built Cuneo Railway Station, the line from that station leaves Cuneo in a South-southwest direction. It is easiest to see the route of the line on a sequence of extracts from global mapping provided by OpenStreetMap. …
Cuneo’s Railway Station in the 21st century. [OpenStreetMap, July 2025][38]
A twilight view of Cuneo railway station taken from the cab of a multiple unit entering the station from the Southwest. [45]
The line runs alongside the locomotive depot to the South of the passenger facilities at Cuneo Railway Station and then enters a tunnel which turns South under the city. [39]The tunnel mouth to the South of Cuneo Railway Station can be made out at the centre-top of this image. [Google Earth 3D, July 2025]This time looking North, the Southern portal of the tunnel to the South of Cuneo Railway Station can be made out below the roundabout at the centre-top of this image. [Google Earth 3D, July 2025]
A rain-spattered cab view from the South, taken in the late evening, of the Southern portal of the tunnel which sits to the South of Cuneo Railway Station. [45]
After leaving the tunnel, the line began to curve round to the Southwest passing under Via Fontanelle and then under the roundabout at the junction of Via Mellana and Viale Federico Mistral. [40]
Looking North in the evening light under a footbridge close to Via Giuseppe Scagliosi through the cab widow of a multiple unit on the line. [45]
The view North from the bridge carrying Via Fontanelle across the line. [Google Streetview, 2019]Looking South from the bridge carrying Via Fontanelle over the line. The bridge in the distance sits underneath a roundabout at the junction between Via Mellana and Viale Federico Mistral. [Google Streetview, 2019]
A three arch bridge carries Via Fontanelle over the railway, seen again in the evening light from the South through the rail-spattered cab widow of a multiple unit. [45]
A short tunnel carries the roundabout at the meeting of Via Mellana and Viale Federico Mistral over the railway, seen again from the South through the rail-spattered cab widow of a multiple unit. [45]
Vegetation around the roundabout means that it it not possible to see into the cutting from the road.
The line continues in a Southwesterly direction running alongside Viale Federico Mistral. [41]
A brick-ringed arch bridge carries the railway over a side road off Viale Federico Mistral. This view is from the Southeast. The structure is at the top-right of the map extract immediately above. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
A very similar arch bridge carries the railway over a further side road off Viale Federico Mistral. The bridge is located in the bottom-left quadrant of the map extract above. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
Now on a more Southwesterly course the line passes under a footbridge, obscured on the map extract by the words Tetto Bidetti in the top-right corne of the extract.
Silhouetted in the evening light, this bridge crosses the line carrying a footpath over the railway. The image, again comes from the cab of a multiple unit heading for Cuneo. [45]
Close to Cascina Tallone, the line crosses Lungo Gesso by means of another brick ringed arch. This view looks under the railway from the Southeast. [Google Streetview, May 2022]
Near Cascina David another brick-arched bridge pierces the railway embankment where Via David passes beneath the railway. Again this view is from the Southeast on Via Sant’Andre. [Google Streetview, May 2022]
Near Cascina Landra another brick-arched bridge pierces the railway embankment. Again this view is from the Southeast on Via Sant’Andre. Thestructure appeasr bottom-left on the map extract above and top-right on the extract below. [Google Streetview, May 2022]
And close to where the line of the older route meets the newer route the line is heading South-southwest and turns towards the Southwest. [43]Now in Borgo San-Dalmazzo we have reached the point where the older line curved in from the East having crossed the River Gesso. [44]
Via Sant’Andrea passes over the line. This view looks Northeast towards Cuneo. [Google Streetview, May 2022]
Also taken from the bridge carrying Via Sant’Andrea over the railway, this view looks across the road SP21 towards Borgo San-Dalmazzo. [Goog;e Streetview, May 2022]
The view Southwest from the bridge carrying the SP21 over the railway. The route of the older line is marked by the field boundary visible to the left of the line. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The older line curved round to the Southwest and followed a straight course towards Borgo-San-Dalmazzo Railway Station. The newer line has taken its place on the approach to the Station from the Northeast.
San-Dalmazzo is a very old trading town located at the crossroads of three valleys: the Stura, the Gesso and the Vermenagna. The station had three platforms, a goods yard, a 5.50 m turntable and a large overflow yard that could be used for the embarkation and disembarkation of military units deployed in the area. “When the railway arrived in Borgo-San-Dalmazzo, this small town had already had a rail service for several years. In fact, private entrepreneurs Ercole Belloli and Carlo Chiapello opened a 1.445 m gauge horse-drawn tramway between Cuneo and Borgo in 1877, passing through the San-Rocco-Castagnaretta district on the left bank of the Gesso. Horse-drawn traction was replaced by steam locomotives on this modest 8-km line in 1878.” [1: p27][48]
The Cuneo-Borgo San-Dalmazzo-Demonte tramway linked the cities of Cuneo, Borgo San Dalmazzo and Demonte from 1877 to 1948. In the late 1870s, following the success of similar initiatives in the Turin area, the construction of tramways was pursued in the province of Cuneo. [48] As we have already noted, this was just one of a number of such tramways in the area.
The Cuneo Borgo-San-Dalmazzo tramway was extended in 1914 to Demonte (26.4 km) and converted on this occasion to a 1.10 m gauge to facilitate the exchange of goods with the Compagnia Generale dei Tramways Piemontesi (CGTP) which operated the Cuneo Boves line (8.3 km) from 1903. The Boves steam tramway disappeared in 1935 and that of Borgo and Demonte in 1948. [1: p28] The story of these tramways seems worth investigating, but their histories are a matter for a different article!
The station had an ignominious place in history. During the Second World War two convoys of Jewish deportees departed from the Borgo San Dalmazzo railway station bound for Auschwitz , coming from the adjacent Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp. The first convoy, on 21st November 1943, completed its journey via Nizza Drancy with 329 people on board. Only 19 survived. The second convoy, on 15th February 1944, with 29 people on board, headed instead for the Fossoli transit camp where it was combined with transport no. 8 bound for Germany. Only 2 survived. [49][50]
The Deportation Memorial , with a row of cattle wagons similar to those used then (the wagons are from 1953) commemorates the names of the deportees, their age and nationality and their family relationships. [50][51]
Burgo San-Dalmazzo to Robilante: The second construction contract covered the length from Borgo San-Dalmazzo to Robilante. Work began in late 1883. From Burgo San-Dalmazzo the line leaves the plain and begins its ascent up the Vermenagna Valley, heading towards the Tende Pass. The route, was designed to accommodate heavy traffic, so the line does “not include any curves with a radius less than 300 m, with two exceptions: one at the southern end of Cuneo station and one at the exit from Borgo station, where the route curves sharply to the left in a 257-meter curve to reach the left bank of the Gesso River. There, a 21 m three-arched masonry viaduct, shared by the railway and the SS20 road, crosses this Alpine torrent for the third and final time.” [1: p27]
This satellite image shows the sharp curve from the Railway Station at Borgo San-Dalmazzo to the viaduct across the River Gesso. [Google Maps, July 2025]
As the railway curves round towards the river its embankments are pierced twice to allow local roads to pass beneath the line.
This is the first structure. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The second structure, closer to the River Gesso. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The southern approach to Borgo San-Dalmazzo Railway Station, seen from the cab of a multiple unit. The line to the right of the image is a siding which terminates close to the River Gesso. [45]
The 3-span viaduct across the River Gesso carries both the railway and the SS20. [Google Streetview, June 2025]Looking South along the SS20 as it crosses the Gesso. The railway cantenary is on the left with the tracks hidden behind the dividing fence. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
A view from the South showing the road on the left. This is a view from the cab of the multiple unit again. [45]
Once over the river the road and railway remain at a high level with an access road to the SS20 passing under both the railway and the road. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
After crossing the river the line ran on through Roccavione. …
Roccavione Station is a simple station with two public platforms and one track serving a military platform. Another level crossing sits beyond the South end of the station site.
Looking back from the level-crossing at Via Piano Sottano towards Roccavione Railway Station. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
A similar view looking North into Roccavione Railway Station from the cab of the multiple unit. The station has no passing loop. [45]
The view Southwest across the level-crossing. [Google Streetview, June 2025]Looking South-southeast as the line continues up the Vermenagna valley. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The line follows an easy gradient between the SP259 (which used to be the SS20) and the left bank of the River Vermenagna to Robilante Railway Station. [1: p27]
The line runs Northwest to Southeast across this extract from Google Maps satellite imagery. It runs close to the SP259 between Roccavione and Robilante. [Google Maps, July 2025]A link road under the railway and under the SP259 beyond. It provides access from Via Piano Sottano to the SP259. [Google Streetview, June 2025]What in the UK we might choose to call an underpass or cattle-creep under the railway. Apologies for the slight distortion of the image which comes from the way in which Google’s algorithm merges the 360° camera photographs. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
Robilante Railway Station had three platform tracks, a small goods yard, a water feed, a 8.50m turntable and an engine shed. Beyond the station track gradients increased significantly and provision needed to be made for banking engines in steam days. [1: p27]
Robilante Railway Station. [Google Maps, July 2025]The station building sat on the Southwest side of the line, This view looks through the station to the Southeast, (c) Gum Gum. [Google Maps: July 2023]Robilante Station building and forecourt seen from the Northeast on Via Roma. [Google Streetview, June 2025]This view looks Northwest through the station towards Cuneo, (c) Mattia Vigano. [Google Maps: April 2019]
A similar view to that immediately above but taken from the driver’s cab on a multiple unit. In the distance in this image the old goods shed can be seen to the left of the line. The shed is no longer present in the more modern image above. [45]
A station plan for the station at Robilante. The line is oriented Northwest to Southeast. The turntable is located at the Northwest end of the yard. The engine shed is opposite the passenger building. The goods shed was Northwest of the passenger facilities and is shown here with a single siding passing through the building. The bridge, shown in images below crosses the station throat at the Southeast end of the station site. Not shown on this early plan are five sidings added for clinker wagons from the Buzzi Unicem cement plant nearby. [47][53]
Robilante Goods Shed seem from the cab of a multiple unit. As noted above, the shed has now been demolished. [45]
This image taken from the Southeast of the station from the cab of an approaching Cuneo service gives a broader view of the station site. [45]
A broader view of Robilante Station taken from a road at the Southeast corner of the station site. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The road overbridge at the Southeast end of the station site. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The view Northwest from the road bridge which carries Via Luigi Emina over the line. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The view Southeast from the same road bridge. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The bridge which carries Via Luigi Emina over the line, seen from the Southeast. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The second phase of the construction work on the line terminated in Robilante. “The preliminary design for the third phase from Robilante to Vernante was submitted to the Ministry of Public Works on 11th January 1884, and work began the following summer. On this 6,419-meter-long section, the railway crosses the mountain with gradients of 25 mm/m.” [1: p27]
This extract from Google Maps satellite imagery shows the length of the line from Robilante to VernanteVia Ferrovieri runs immediately adjacent to the railway for some distance, passing under a road over bridge along with the railway. This view looks ahead up the Vermenaga valley. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The same bridge seen from the Southeast. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The two images immediately above were taken at the end of a road serving a small industrial area. The first looks Northeast, the second, Southeast. [Google Streetview, September 2023]
After passing under the SS20, the line runs alongside the road for a kilometre or so.
Trains can be seen passing immediately adjacent to the road. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
A short distance further South a side road from the SS20, Via Tetto Pettavino, bridges the line. The two photographs below were taken from the bridge.
Looking North towards Robilante. [Google Streetview, June 2025]Looking ahead along the line towards the viaduct over the River Vermenagna. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The railway crossed the Vermenagna River by means of a viaduct of 5 arched spans – three of 21 metres flanked at each end by an 8 metre span. [Google Maps, July 2025][1: p27]
A photograph of the viaduct over the Vermenagna surrounded by trees can be found here on Flickr. [54]
Banaudo et al tell us that seven further significant structures were included in the contract which covered the line as far as Vernante [1: p27] all of which sit within approximately 3 kilometres along the line:
the Rio Vermanera masonry viaduct, with three 8-metre arches;
the Ponte Nuovo Tunnel, 425 metres long;
the Brunet Tunnel, 161 metres long;
the Corte-Soprano Tunnel, 95 metres long;
the San Giovanni masonry viaduct, with six arches measuring 7.90 m, three measuring 13.75 m, and one measuring 6 m;
the San Giovanni Tunnel, 138 metres long; and
the Costa Tunnel, 147 metres long. [1: p27]
The first of these – the Rio Vermanera Viaduct is pictured below.
The Rio Vermanera masonry viaduct, seen from the West, one span of which crosses the Strada Vermanera, another spans the Vermaners stream. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The same viaduct seen from the East. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
Strada Vermanera provides road access to a number of small hamlets to the East of the railway line. [Google Maps, July 2025]
The Ponte Nuovo Tunnel: this extract from OpenStreetMap shows the tunnel curving significantly. It ran from just to the South of the Rio Vermanera Viaduct to open out immediately adjacent to the SS20/E74 but at a higher level. [55]
Immediately beyond the southern portal of the Ponte Nuovo Tunnel, a masonry retaining wall supports the railway above the SS20/E74.
Looking back towards the South portal of the Ponte Nuevo Tunnel the parapet railings of the retaining wall can be seen on the left of this image. [45]
The southern portal of the Ponte Nuovo Tunnel is at the far end of this retaining wall. Immediately at the Southeast end of the retaining wall is the short Brunet Tunnel (161 metres long) [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The Brunet Tunnel is shown dotted on this extract from OpenStreetMap. [56]
The South Portal of the Brunet Tunnel. [45]
The next tunnel is only 200 metres or so along the line, the Corte-Soprano Tunnel is even shorter at only 95 metres in length. [57]
The South Portal of the Corte-Soprano Tunnel. [45]
Just to the Southeast of the tunnel portal is the next structure, the San Giovanni Viaduct. masonry viaduct, with six arches measuring 7.90 metres, three measuring 13.75 metres, and one measuring 6 metres. [Google Maps, July 2025]
It is not feasible to get a photograph of the full length of the viaduct. The three images below give a good impression of its length and height.
Two further short tunnels, the San Giovanni Tunnel (138 metres long) and the Costa Tunnel (147 metres long) follow in the next few hundred metres.
The two tunnels are only separated by a short length of the line. [Google Maps, July 2025]
The South portal of the San Giovanni Tunnel. [45]
The South portal of the Costa Tunnel. [45]
The railway continues to climb higher on the eastern slope of the Vermenagna Valley and reaches Vernante, about 23 km from Cuneo.
Another of the plans and profiles that we encountered earlier in this article. This one shows the final approaches to Vernante Railway Station. Some of the structures described above can be seen on this plan. [47]
On the final approaches to Vernante Railway Station two further structures can be seen on the plan above. They carry the line over minor roads. The first spans Via La Tina, the second spans Vicolo Castello/Strada da Castello.
Looking East through the underpass which takes Via La Tina under the railway. [Google Streetview, June 2025]Looking East through the structure that carries the railway over Strada da Castello. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
Vernante Railway Station was the end of the third tranche of works on the railway. Vernante is “a busy centre of livestock breeding and craftsmanship where renowned knives are produced. Vernante station … has two platform faces with a passing loop, … [a goods shed] and platform for goods traffic, a 5.50 m turntable and a curious installation, unique on the line, the “binario di salvamento”. This is a counter-slope safety [line which leaves the main running line close to the station throat] on the Limone side. The switch is permanently positioned to provide access to the safety line, so that any vehicle drifting down the 26 mm/m gradient south of the station can enter it, be slowed down by the opposite gradient and then come to a stop. Each descending train must stop before the switch, so that it can be maneuvered on site to allow normal entry into the station. This simple but effective precautionary measure applies to other steep-gradient lines on the Italian network, in the Alps and the Apennines.” [1: p27]
A plan of Vernante Railway Station. [47]Vernante Railway Station. [Google Streetview, July 2025]The view Southeast from the station car park, after demolition of the old goods shed. The main station building features at the centre of the image. [Google Streetview, June 2025]The main station building at Vernante seen from the West. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
Photographs showing the station building and the goods shed prior to its demolition can be seen here. [58] “Inaugurated in 1889, the station served as the terminus for the Cuneo-Ventimiglia line for nearly two years, until it was extended to Limone Piemonte. The passenger building features classic Italian architecture, with two levels. It is square, medium-sized, and well-maintained. Its distinctive feature is the two murals depicting scenes from the Pinocchio fairy tale, adorning its façade. The lower level houses the waiting room and self-service ticket machine, while the upper level is closed.” [58]
A photograph from the cab of a Cuneo-bound train arriving at Vernante. The passenger building is on the left with the goods shed beyond. [45]
While construction work was underway on the first three tranches (Cuneo to Vernante), the Italian rail network was undergoing a major reorganization. The Law passed on 27th April 1885, placed control of the railways into the hands of “the new Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo, more commonly known as Rete Mediterranea (RM), … including the route ‘from Cuneo to the sea’.” [1: p28]
In 1887, the time had come for the first trains! “The Cuneo-Robilante section was inaugurated on Saturday, 16th July 1887, and opened for service on Monday 18th. Less than two weeks later, Francesco Crispi became President of the Council of Ministers, and relations between Italy and France would soon be strengthened. Then came the beginning of the future Cuneo-Mondovi line, which opened on 2nd October 1887, as far as Roccadebaldi. The Roccadebaldi and Robilante lines thus formed a common section for 359 meters, starting from Cuneo [Gesso] station and crossing the Gesso River on the same viaduct. … Two years later, the Robilante-Vernante section was … opened on 1st September 1889.” [1: p28]
As footnotes to this article we note that:
Banaudo et al comment: “construction of the Ceva Ormea branch line began in the upper Tanaro Valley. With a terminus about 30 km from Vernante or 25 km from Tenda and Briga, this line would play an important role in the battle of interests that would unfold in the final years of the century to confirm a definitive route to the sea.” [1: p28]
They also give details of the locomotives used on the line in these very early years, by Rete Mediterranea (RM). The locomotives were 030s (in the UK 0-6-0s) with tenders and came from the roster of the Turin depot and loaned to the Cuneo-Gesso Locomotive depot. They belonged to just one series: “Nos. 3201 to 3519 RM, which became group 215.001 to 398 at the FS. [The series was built] between 1864 and 1892 based on a model derived from the French “Bourbonnais” locomotives of the PLM. These 450 hp engines were equipped with saturated steam, single expansion, and Stephenson internal distribution. The [later] Cuneo depot, established in 1907, still had five type 215 locomotives in 1922, mainly operating service trains.” [1: p86] It is also worth noting that some of the locos used on the line after 1899 came from a second series of locomotives (“Nos. 3801 to 3869 RM, later 3101 to 3169, then group 310.001 to 069 at the FS, built from 1894 to 1901 [1: p86]). While these locomotives were old enough to have served in the period from 1887 to 1891, they only arrived on the line during 1901. … I anticipate there being a separate article about motive power on the line in due course.
We finish this first part of the journey from Cuneo to the sea at Vernante. The next article about the line will begin at Vernante and head South towards Limone and Vievola. It can be found here. [61]
References
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 1: 1858-1928; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 2: 1929-1974; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
Jose Banaudo, Michel Braun and Gerard de Santos; Les Trains du Col de Tende Volume 3: 1975-1986; FACS Patrimoine Ferroviaire, Les Editions du Cabri, 2018.
“The locomotive developed by the Scottish engineer Robert Francis Fairlie (1831-1885) from 1869 on the Ffestiniog narrow gauge railway in Wales, had two boilers connected by a single central firebox. Each boiler supplies steam to a pair of cylinders driving an independent group of axles. This system was developed in France from 1888 by artillery captain Prosper Péchot (1849-1928) and engineer Charles Bourdon (1847-1933), creators of an articulated narrow gauge locomotive widely used by the French army.” [1: p21]
Séraphin Piccon; Etude Comparative de Deux Lignes de Chemin de Fer Entre Nice et Coni; 1872.
The Fell System which created “additional adhesion using a raised central rail, patented by British engineer John Barraclough Fell (1815-1902), was first applied in the Alps in 1868 on the railway running along the Mont Cenis route between St. Michel-de-Maurienne and Susa, pending the completion of the Fréjus Tunnel in 1871.” [1: p21]
A. Cachiardy de Montfleury; Chemin de Fer de Nice a Coni; Imprimerie Cauvan, Nice, 1872.
Marius de Vautheleret; Chemin de Fer Cuneo Ventimiglia – Nice Traversant le Col de Tende; Editions Giletta, Nice, 1874.
Marius de Vautheleret; Chemin de Fer Cuneo – Nice par Ventimiglia et le Col de Tende; Kugelmann, Paris, 1883; Trajet direct de Londres à Brindisi par le Col de Tende; Kugelmann, Paris, 1884; Ligne directe Londres – Brindisi par le Col de Tende; Retaux, Abbeville, 1890; Le Grand Saint-Bernard et le Col de Tende Ligne Ferrée Directe de Londres à Brindisi avec Jonction à la Méditerranée; Malvano & Mignon, Nice, 1897.
Stefano Garzaro & Nico Molino; La Ferrovia Di Tends Da Cuneoba Nizza, L’ultima Grande Traversata Alpina, Colleferro (RM); E.S.T. – Editrice di Storia dei Trasporti, Luglio, 1982, (Italian text)
Ferrovie dello Stato; Circolare Compartimentale del Compartimento di Torino 54/1937, (Italian text).
Franco Collidà, Max Gallo & Aldo A. Mola; Cuneo-Nizza: Storia di una ferrovia, Cuneo (CN); Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, Luglio, 1982, (Italian text).
The locomotive depot area, left vacant after the opening of the new Cuneo station, was later reused by a sawmill connected by a siding to the Gesso station. [25]
Roger Farnworth 
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