The little blue and white train of San Marino
A small museum of the only railroad, now decommissioned, that directly connected San Marino and Rimini
What is it and where is the San Marino train.
A city street, the bustling station square, and defiladed in a corner at the confluence of the two, a tunnel. Sounds like the beginning of a compelling story, doesn't it? Indeed it does, albeit with a melancholy undertone. We are in San Marino, nestled in the Apennines through which the Valmarecchia opens, and the tunnel where our adventure begins is called the Montale tunnel. From here we set out to discover a historic railway: the Rimini - San Marino.
Why it is special: relics of the Rimini-San Marino railroad.
The mouth of the gallery, lined with carved stone with battlements and pleats, immediately dismisses the idea of a gloomy and mysterious gallery; here we are in the presence of something elegant and sophisticated, and if we do not get too distracted by the rocks, we will also see one of the protagonists of the story: a railway carriage painted in horizontal bands: blue at the bottom and white at the top. On the side is an inscription: AB 03 III. This is one of the original electromotor cars, a third-class one to be precise, that made up the little train that for a handful of years united Rimini and San Marino.
A bit of history
The Rimini - San Marino railway was a project that came about through agreements between the Fascist government and the State of San Marino and involved connecting the two cities with a specially built railway line. Work began in late 1928 and the inauguration took place on June 12, 1932. This 32-kilometer line was traveled by a light blue and white train in about an hour. Its service, appreciated by citizens, was short-lived, however: the June 26, 1944 bombing of San Marino damaged it, and service was never restored.
Disuse and recovery: the railway today
Over time, various parts of the Italian section were dismantled, although the route is still visible (for example, in Laiala Park in Serravalle it is a bicycle and pedestrian path). In 2012, San Marino restored about 800 meters of track, including the Montale Tunnel, and refurbished the AB-03 electromotor for tourism purposes.
Today it is nice to see this historic carriage resting at the exit of the tunnel, witness to a recent but eventful past, while the new tourist train on tires connects the city of San Marino with Borgo Maggiore by moving along the old route, including some of the tunnels of the Rimini - San Marino.
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