In the night from Thursday to Friday, there was a break-in at the STAR museum railway in Stadskanaal. The volunteers discovered the break-in Friday morning.
Every morning, volunteers open the gate to get to work at the museum steam train in Stadskanaal. The old STAR locomotives run on the railway line on the border of Drenthe and Groningen between Veendam and Musselkanaal and make stops in Nieuw-Buinen, among other places.
She can’t get over people doing things like that. “This is a huge downer. We all put our shoulders back together, but we are not extremely happy,’ she says.
Hoekzema calls on people to take a good look around to see if they happen to come across tools that are being offered. ‘Part of it is marked with a bright green paint spot that you can’t get off that easily. Most of the tools are well used and rather dirty, as they are obviously used in a steam train workshop.’
Hoekzema does not yet know how extensive the damage is. “It’s too early to say anything about that now. We have not yet been able to inventory everything. We also do not yet know whether any parts of the steam train are missing. Then we’re in a lot of trouble, because you can’t get that at the hardware store, of course. Tools are replaceable, but train parts are another story.’
Police are investigating the burglary.