Riga 1990

We first visited Riga in June 1990 when Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union. It is difficult now to imagine the economic situation 20 years ago. Basically the shops were empty and our big treat every day was to have an ice cream at 3:00 pm.

There was considerable tension between Latvian and Russian speakers. The driver of the Museum tram was an outspoken Latvian nationalist who was taking a party of Russian speaking school children round the city. He insisted we travelled on the front platform with him, closed the bulk head door and ignored the children.

Most of the trams were Tatras running in pairs with both trolleys on the wire. Electrically operated frogs were used with complicated twin wires at junctions.

Route 10 had a handful of these older bogie cars and trailers.