Opened in 1994, the Latvian Railway Museum is just a few hundred metres the other side of Akmens tilts in Pardaugava, across the river from the Old Town. Its collection is made up of more than a thousand period artefacts, photos and documents, housed in an old engine warehouse.
Unlike bigger, more hands-on museums such as the National Rail Museum in Britain, this is a place for enthusiasts only, with little in the way of interactive exhibits or English-language explanations. The old rolling stock outside - including a German steam train and Soviet passenger diesels - can be seen without buying a ticket and most of what's on show inside is incomprehensible unless you speak Latvian or Russian. The exceptions are a waiting room grandfather clock, still ticking out the seconds next to inter-war tourist posters for Riga's seaside, and a model railway built by the curator featuring scale models of 1960s stations. For 20 santimes, he'll demonstrate it to visitors, though sadly you can only look and not touch. There's also an interesting collection of black-and-white photos of Riga Central Station at various points in history, including a painted mural of all the destinations (including Tallinn and Moscow) and a large hanging portrait of Lenin which has now been replaced by a supermarket sign. The rest of the collection is a jumble of old pieces such as signalling equipment, uniforms, telephones, ticket stubs and track implements. Unless you're desperate to escape the cold, you can walk through most of it in around thirty to forty-five minutes.
Although the one lat admission is cheap and the location convenient if you're on the way to the Soviet Victory Monument, there are far more interesting museums in Riga than this one.
The museum is open from 10-5pm Tuesday to Saturday.
From journal Riga: Museums and Monuments