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.

Signal Tower and Water tower at the Museumspoorlijn STAR, Stadskanaal NL. July 14th, 2022.

Photo by Guido Allieri (guido@allieri.com)