Lovely Liepaja Part 1

You strike off due east from Scotland, go round the top of Denmark passing Norway and Sweden on your left, then, straight ahead are Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Liepaja (pronounced, roughly leer-pie-uh with a slight emphasis on the “pie”; fbb is always more than happy to put a huge emphasis on a pie, preferably steak and kidney with mash, cabbage and gravy!) is the main port city of Latvia.

… it has on-going problems with coastal erosion.

On the positive side, according to correspondent David (Sheffield David) who has just visited, it has excellent public conveniences and plenty thereof!

… and many more superb ecclesiastical buildings.

There are glorious white-sand beaches …

But what Liepaja is (not?) famous for its tram network.

That is because it doesn’t have one – a network, that is!

… with tram No 1 pictured above. As well as Liepaja’s first tram route, it was also Liepaja’s last tram route and still is Liepaja’s only tram route. Apart from one short extension, the one route still runs today.

With a profusion of pictures sent by David …

… and an excellent web site with timetables, maps, fares and a potted history of the system, fbb could not resist a minor outbreak of blogging.

And, with Christmas already in some UK shops, who could resist Liepaja’s festive tram?

Whilst one-route modern tram systems do happen as potential networks are resurrected after years of decline and withdrawal, historic but still active very basic systems are rare.

In the UK, of course, we have Blackpool which has only just acquired a mini-branch to North Station …

… and Edinburgh has staggered towards an extension to Newhaven. 

But both are really only one line.

Birminham is in the process of expanding …

… with extensions (GREY) to the extensions (PINK) planned or aspirational.

As we shall see  on Wednesday   Liepaja is far from a heritage relic.

 Next cornering blog : Tuesday 15th Oct