It’s between Andora and Imperia. Sad but true. Since december 2016.
Aah, I cannot believe the old Diano Marina station has closed. Many a happy hour was spent there on family holidays watching the trains go by. Locals from Ventimiglia to Genoa or Milan made up with a whole assortment of grey coaching stock. The long distance trains running from the Spanish border at Hendaye all the way to Rome. The overnight trains from Nice to Rome and Venice, and the TEE’s from Milan to Avignon.
My favorite loco was the E636 (see photo) in brown livery with its distinctive whistle style horn.
During the summer, you would also get German charter trains in DB blue and cream. One regular overnight service that I saw pulling into Diano Marina originated in Dusseldorf according to the printed paper destination labels stuck to the doors, running to San Remo via Basel, Milan and Genoa. The train would be stabled during the day at Imperia Oneglia before returning north that evening.
My parents trusted me enough for me to sometimes take the train back along the coast to Ventimiglia in the late afternoon, hanging out of the window as we traversed the coast line, and watch the various overnight trains for Paris, Strasbourg and Metz being shunted into the station ready to start their services.
The first words I learned in Italian were: non attraversare i binari, carrozza con leti, carrozza aria condizionta, and e pericoloso sporgersi.
I’m just glad I got to stand on the platform of the old Diano Marina station, hear the ting ting ting of the station bell which heralded the impending arrival of a train, and see the old FS in action before the advent of underground tunnels, high speed lines, TGV style trains and compulsory reservations.
