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Old Monaco station?

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duesselmartin

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Hi all.
As I will be in Monte Carlo soon, I wonder If the old station still exists.
Just seen the old San Remo station, so much better as the new. I am hoping to find rail remains in Monaco Monte Carlo.

Cheers.
Martin
 
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Steamysandy

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AFAIK,the entire site of Monaco old station is built over but there is a clue where it was with a bridge spanning one of the streets where the Grand Prix takes place.
I also believe it was built immediately above .the Tunnel Section of the Grand Prix route
 
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The original Monte Carlo station (opened in 1868) was immediately below the Casino, allowing it was said a quick getaway after a disastrous night at the tables. This was replaced by a rather functional SNCF affair in 1958 on the other side of the harbour, a few streets inland - the rest of the line being diverted through tunnel. This was in turn replaced by a wholly tunnelled line and station further inland in 1999. The lift-shaft to the tunnelled walkway to the current station is roughly where the 1958 station was, but the whole area has been comprehensively redeveloped. There is no trace of the 1868 station site either, being engulfed by various developments. Near to the French border on both sides of the Principality you can see traces of the old formation from the current line just before you plunge into the tunnel.
 

duesselmartin

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Thank you both of you. I have seen YouTube videos of it with serious overcrowding. I guess a new bigger station was badly needed.

Will be Usingen Thello from Italy to get there. With mixed reviews of their operations, it will be an interesting experience.
 

Bald Rick

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Last time I went, 8 years ago, I went searching for the old (1958) station, and there was no trace. It certainly isn’t where the Grand Prix track Tunnel is - this is right on the coast, just up from the port.
 

MarkyT

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The original Monte Carlo station (opened in 1868) was immediately below the Casino, allowing it was said a quick getaway after a disastrous night at the tables. This was replaced by a rather functional SNCF affair in 1958 on the other side of the harbour, a few streets inland - the rest of the line being diverted through tunnel. This was in turn replaced by a wholly tunnelled line and station further inland in 1999. The lift-shaft to the tunnelled walkway to the current station is roughly where the 1958 station was, but the whole area has been comprehensively redeveloped. There is no trace of the 1868 station site either, being engulfed by various developments. Near to the French border on both sides of the Principality you can see traces of the old formation from the current line just before you plunge into the tunnel.

According to Wikipedia there were originally two stations in the principality. Monte Carlo for the Casino, and Monaco further west, about 1.5km apart. The first bypass tunnel, avoiding Monte Carlo, was completed in 1958 but the map on the Wiki page suggest that station remained open in some way until 1965. At some point the alignment was abandoned and reused for a new road, Boulevard du Larvotto, passing through the line's short tunnels and over new viaducts in the centre past the casino and presumably right through the old station site, and to the east of the harbour. You can follow it on Google Streetview. Further west, Monaco station remained open until the second bypass tunnel and new underground station were finished in 1999. Some of that alignment particularly around the old Monaco station itself has been redeveloped already while other parts further west remain unused.

The wikipedia page (refer to map image)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Monaco

Here's a picture near the Casino looking east
https://primotipo.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/monaco-1958.png

...taken in 1960 by the particular car captured according to the blog post the pic is from, which is a hardcore racing history site so is quite likely to be correct. That is after 1958 when the tunnel had supposed to have opened so that suggests the 'Monte Carlo loop' may have lasted longer, as suggested by the wiki map.

Here's the same site on Boulevard du Larvotto today from Streetviewmontecarlo.jpg

Here is a picture of the old Monte Carlo station itself looking west, again claimed from 1960
http://trains-worldexpresses.com/600/605a-08m.JPG

Elsewhere the new structures along Boulevard du Larvotto look later than the 1958 tunnel or thereabouts so that again suggests the Monte Carlo alignment segment may have remained at least in place if not in use for a good while before the road was built, but the whole principality is a constant building site so its possible they have been replaced or reconfigured a number of times since original construction.

For instance:
montecarlo2.jpg
 

duesselmartin

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I can confirm today that Monaco is a giant building site :)
The new station is impressive for a tunnel Station. However I was glad to travel from/to Ventimiglia. The Nice platform was very crowded.
Thank you for your input.
Martin
 

Western Lord

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There are many views of Monte Carlo station in photographs of cars in the Monaco Grand Prix rounding the Station hairpin pre 1964. The station was demolished and replaced with the Loews Hotel (which has another name these days).
 

Groningen

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Not many pictures can be found on Google Images about the old Monaco station. Wikipedia has about the same picture from the other side. It has a tremendous parking space for cars!

bahnhof_monaco.jpg

Source: Trekearth
 

scragend

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I remember seeing the 1958 station when I first went to Monaco in 2002. It was closed by then of course, but the exit of the pedestrian tunnel from the new underground station was right onto the site of the old station. The tracks had been filled in but you could tell where the platform edge had been because the painted line was visible.

There was a plaque on the building commemorating the opening of the "new" station in 1958. I didn't understand at the time, because the station I had just come out of was clearly a lot more recent than 1958. It was only later that I realised that the "new" station that it referred to was now the "old" station.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I thought the date on the plaque was early 1960s, not 1958. Either I'm mistaken, or that could tie in with the other station remaining open after 1958.
 
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