CUNIFER – the Cuneo Railway Modellers and Railway Enthusiasts Club – was founded in 1981. It is a non-profit association that brings together railway and model railway enthusiasts, encouraging the exchange of experience and collaboration with organizations in Italy and abroad.
CUNIFER’s activities range from preserving railway heritage to public outreach. It safeguards memorabilia, original documents and a rich specialist library containing hundreds of books, catalogues and historical magazines, some of which are now rare or out of print. The club also builds and exhibits two community model railway layouts, including a particularly significant model of the Cuneo–Nice line, known as the “Railway of Wonders”, which crosses spectacular landscapes and features remarkable engineering works.
CUNIFER has turned its passion for this railway into an H0-scale model layout.
Reproducing the entire 98-kilometre route, with an elevation difference of almost 1,000 metres, would have required a layout around one kilometre long and more than twelve metres high—an impossible undertaking.
The project therefore focuses on the most striking sections, integrating them into a 10-by-5-metre hall that also houses the museum and library. Trains run above the exhibition areas and pass through tunnels built among books and magazines.
Highlights include the Saorge and Scarassoui viaducts, the spiral at Berghe and, currently in the planning stage, Vievola station: an original display well worth a visit!
Alongside model railways, the club promotes the value of rail transport and supports the protection of railway lines by organising visits to railway facilities, depots and routes of technical, historical or scenic interest. Talks with experts, screenings, round-table discussions, exhibitions, events and swap meets round out a programme open to the community, developed in collaboration with local organisations and similar associations in Italy and abroad.
