Until The First World War, the development of railways in the territory of Latvia served the needs of the Russian Empire, of which Latvia was a western province. The first railways came to Latvia in the 1850s when construction of the important St. Petersburg - Warsaw line was started in Latgale. Soon after, in the 1860s and 70s, trains started to run along new lines from Riga to Daugavpils, Daugavpils - Vitebska, Riga - Jelgava, Riga - Tukums and
Riga - Pskov, as well as along other railway routes of great importance for the development of economic life in this region of Russia.

Sankt-Peterburg - Warsaw line; Daugavpils station at the beginning of the 20th. century

The narrow-gauge railway "era" in the territory of Latvia started much later, in 1897, when the first narrow-gauge train puffed into Valka, a remote town in Northern Latvia. This was the Valka - Parnu line, built by the First Branch Line Company of Russia. The narrow gauge line crossed the breadth of the current territory of our country from Valka to Ipiki and then continued to Meizakili and Parnu. It was built to the characteristic gauge of Russian narrow-gauge railways: 0.351 sazhens or 750mm. Just for comparison, it must be remembered that the Russian broad-gauge is 1524mm, while most European countries have a gauge of 1435mm or 4ft.8.5ins. At the turn of the 19th. and 20th. centuries, this new means of transport had established itself as the most efficient form of overland transport. The main obstacle to further development was extremely high construction costs. In order to reduce them, lines using lighter structures and lightly-laid track were built. These were used for local transport, mainly to transport timber and agricultural products to ports or junctions with broad-gauge lines. Several private railway companies were established in the Russian Empire for the construction of local lines. In 1900, one company built the metre gauge Liepaja - Aizpute railway in Kurzeme, conforming to the gauge of the electric tramway built in Liepaja in 1898. Before the outbreak of World War 1, Two more 750mm lines were opened. These were the Stukmani - Vecgulbene - Aluksne - Valka line (1903) and the Smiltene - Ainabi line (1912). The first of these connected to the Valka - Parnu line, which allowed for the delivery of agricultural products and timber from the Vidzeme region to the port of Parnu without reloading.

Liepaja - Aizpute line; Liepaja station at the beginning of the 20th. century

Liepaja - Rucava line; Rucava station in the 1920s and 30s

Narrow-gauge railway construction expanded during World War 1, when lightly-laid lines for military use were built by both the German and Russian armies. The Germans were especially active in the occupied Kuzerne region, building simple 600mm gauge lines with prefabricated track panels: the so-called "feldbahn" railways. From these, a narrow-gauge network developed in the Kurzeme and Zemgale regions during the war years. They were used not only for military purposes, but also for the transportation of local goods to broad-gauge railways or ports.

"Feldbahn" steam locomotive in Seaside Open-Air Museum

Later, in the 1920s and 30s, after the establishment of an independent Latvian state, the "feldbahn" railways were considerably improved and adapted for passenger transport. At the same time, construction of new 750mm narrow-gauge railways was continued. The most significant were the Liepaja - Alsunga line, opened for temporary traffic in 1931, and the Liepaja - Rucava line (reconstructed from a "feldbahn") a year later. The Sita - Rezekne line, almost 80km long, was put into operation in 1934, and was especially important for the developing economy in Latgale. It connected the Sita station of the broad-gauge Gulbene - Abrene line with Rezekne. New railway construction was also continued in Kurzeme. In 1935, the extension of the Liepaja - Alsunga line to Kuldiga was completed, but the proposal to extend it to Tukums remained at the planning stage, the final drafts showing it as a broad-gauge line. Despite the efforts of the Central Administration of Latvian Railways to standardize on a single narrow gauge, the historically-established variety of gauges was very much in evidence in the mid 1930s. This was most evident at Liepaja Junction, where 5 gauges were in use simultaneously, ranging from 600mm to 1524mm.
By 1938, the total length of railway lines in operation in Latvia reached 3350km, of which 1112km were narrow-gauge. Almost half of the latter 514km were of 750mm gauge. In comparison, by 1999, the total length of lines operated by the state stock company "Latvijas Dzelzcels" was 2412.9km, with only one 33.4km narrow-gauge line.

Ainazi - Smiltene railway line; Smiltene station at the beginning of the 20th. century

Valka - Pernava railway line at the beginning of the 20th. century

Narrow-gauge railways experienced their last renaissance during the years of World War 11, encouraged not only by their comparatively fast and simple construction, but also by the existence of a well-established network. Countless spurs and branches to broad-gauge lines sprang up across Latvia. The line linking Ainazi and Ikla must be mentioned as the most significant wartime construction. As a result, the Smiltene - Ainazi railway organically fits into the approximately 850km Estonian - Northern Latvian narrow-gauge railway network.

The Latvian narrow-gauge railway network also played a significant role in the provision of transport services during the post-war years. Even in the late 1950s, modernization of branch lines, or "technical revolution" as it was called at the time, took place. As a part of this, the deepening of ballast and the replacement of wooden with concrete sleepers improved track work in many places. When the rolling stock was modernised, steam locomotives were replaced with diesels. Old freight cars with hand brakes were replaced by new stock equipped with automatic pneumatic brakes. Even so, motor transport was already developing in the 60s and 70s, and the public narrow-gauge network was gradually liquidated, track work dismantled and rolling stock sold for scrap. 
It is only due to a coincidence of circumstances, and as the result of public pressure, that the last public narrow-gauge railway line, running for nearly 33km between Gulbene and Aluksne, was maintained and is still in operation in Latvia.

The first diesel locomotives TU2 in the Gulbene depot at the end of 1950s