Latvijas dzelzceļa vēstures muzejs — Attraction in Riga

Having visited other railway museums, I was quite a bit disappointed. A lot of texts are only available in Latvian (which is fair, given it’s a national museum, but it unnecessarily limits potential visitors). The collection also seemed a bit random. There were various maps with railroad lines, yet no coherent information about its development and current state (a lot of lines are seemingly not in use anymore). Most of the presented railway history focusses on pre-soviet times and there is basically no content at all covering the recent decades (especially after regaining independence). There are some (mostly soviet-era) cars and locomotives on display in the outside area, the collection is rather small though, and at the time of my visit at least, I wasn’t able to have a look...

The Latvian Railway Museum is a tiny museum for a tiny railway network but it still packs a lot of information and exhibits within its small footprint.

There is a fantastic mix of interactive exhibits and locomotives on display. There is a cute model railway which operates at various times during the day.

I spent about 90 minutes on the site and found lots to look at. The museum hosts many exhibits and models displaying the Latvian way of running a railway. I went alone but found it to have something for everyone, there lots to keep the kids entertained too.

There’s plenty of information in English and the collection of vehicles in the yard is expansive, each with their own little description.

For €7, it’s a great stop whilst...

a decent railway museum, for the price it is good. the location is good - you are not far from the city centre.

the museum is not big. it would be very infornative if the museum had more information about Latvia rail in present day, and about the future of rail in Latvia.

for example, they demonstrate a map with the expansion of railway lines in Latvia, but then fail to show or explain the demise of railway lines.

the interactive exhibition on historic railway station environment was surprising and good, but unfortunately many parts of it was non-functional.

not all of the museum is available in English, maybe 40-50%.

visiting will take 1 to 2 hours, if you also watch the model railway run, which is...