“I can already see the train!” 6-year-old Jos shouts. His eyes do not deceive him, because in the distance the yellow locomotive is indeed coming, which will take dozens of children with parents to Nieuw-Buinen station at one o’clock. On the occasion of the National Steam Train Day, the track will be used throughout Ascension Day along the Drents-Groningen border.
It is a regular fixture in Stadskanaal, says station master Pieter Bonenschansker. Every year the platform of Museum Railway STAR is full of admiring enthusiasts, enthusiastic children and beaming parents. “We have a special event this year, with the theme ‘farmer, citizen and outdoor people'”, says Bonenschansker. “It mainly concerns the transport of packages by train. That used to be very different from now.”
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