The Stadskanaal Rail Foundation (STAR) was founded in 1992 with the aim of preserving the Veendam-Stadskanaal-Musselkanaal railway line as an industrial monument of the Veenkoloniën, by means of a tourist (steam) train service.
The first equipment arrived in the spring of 1994: the steam locomotives Emma and Anna with four carriages, a boxcar and a residence/work car, all taken over from the discontinued German museum railway VEHE.
Since 1995, Museum Railway STAR, as the name is externally, has been running according to an annual timetable. The equipment collection has now grown strongly, as has the number of passengers. At the end of 2004, with the help of various subsidy providers, a major project was started in which, among other things, the infrastructure was subjected to a thorough renovation and the yard in Stadskanaal was enlarged.
A small part was also intended for the renovation of equipment. Partly thanks to this project, the STAR was able to grow further into a fully-fledged museum railway.

Coach WR 132 of the Museumspoorlijn STAR, Stadskanaal NL. July 14th, 2022.
This carriage was part of the Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) fleet: a Staff Car for the British Military Train, “The Berliner” which ran between Berlin Charlottenburg in West Berlin and Braunschweig in the Federal Republic of Germany through the so-called German Democratic Republic.  It was in service for the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) which was present in Germany from 25 August 1945 to May 1994.  The carriage came to STAR in the summer of 1997 and a few years later was rebuilt as a restaurant car.

Mid 2002, the carriage in its cream-red livery (similar to the German Inter City livery) became ready for service.  The carriage has its own power generator and heating, and is fitted with seats from Plan – U diesel multiple units of the Netherlands Railways.  After a few modifications and improvements and maintenance of various installations during the winter of 2004/5, the carriage has again been available for operation. In 2007 the carriage went into reserve (after the arriaval of the Württemberg two-axled carriages) and at the cloas of 2008 was for the time being set aside.

Photo by Guido Allieri (guido@allieri.com)