THE SWANAGE RAILWAY TRUST
Registered charity 1087318 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
The Trust's principal objectives are:1) To preserve and restore for the public benefit items of historical, architectural, engineering or scientific value in connection with railways; and2) To advance the education of the public in the history and development of railway transportation.
Causes: Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that consolidated funds increased to £7,427,291, with free reserves calculated at £1,277,222 after deducting fixed assets and restricted balances. The trustees note a requirement for a high level of reserves due to substantial investment in fixed assets and the trading subsidiary. The independent auditors confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate with no material uncertainties identified.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Trading income (74% of income)
“Total income from activities in Company 3,034,808”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: a high level of reserves (held: £1.3m)
“The Group has a requirement for a high level of reserves due to its large investment in fixed assets and its trading subsidiary and for setting aside resources for future projects.” — page 9
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Supplier with trustee shareholding
“As stated in note 22, four trustees/directors have a shareholding in the parent of the Southern Locomotives Group, which is used by the Swanage Railway Group as a supplier. During the year, there was transactions totalling £115,000 (2024: £156,000) with £6,000 (2024: £12,000) outstanding at year end.” — page 31
“Trustees donated amounts totalling £281 (2024: £700) of which £0 (2024: £400) was donated towards the T3 appeal. The remaining donations were without conditions.” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Trustee donations
“As stated in note 22, four trustees/directors have a shareholding in the parent of the Southern Locomotives Group, which is used by the Swanage Railway Group as a supplier. During the year, there was transactions totalling £115,000 (2024: £156,000) with £6,000 (2024: £12,000) outstanding at year end.” — page 31
“Trustees donated amounts totalling £281 (2024: £700) of which £0 (2024: £400) was donated towards the T3 appeal. The remaining donations were without conditions.” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Swanage Railway Company Limited
“The Swanage Railway Trust holds a controlling interest in the Swanage Railway Company Limited, which assists the Trust in meeting its objectives by operating the Swanage Railway and undertaking the associated trading activities.” — page 8
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by MC Audit Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Abbie King — Chief Executive (source)
- Ben Ford — Chair (source)
Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.
Property (HM Land Registry)
6 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold); recorded price paid £62k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/01/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£19k
Reported reserves equal ~4.6 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.5% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (03/10/2011) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Frank Robertschair
- Alexander Atkins
- Benjamin Jack Ford
- Clare Collins
- Clive Austin Hardy
- Daniel John Bennett · trustee of 1 other charity
- ELIZABETH MAUREEN SELLEN · trustee of 1 other charity
- Gavin Johns
- Ian Kapur
- Jim Wheeler
- MICHAEL ALAN WHITWAM
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Dorset
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE SWANAGE RAILWAY TRUST financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that consolidated funds increased to £7,427,291, with free reserves calculated at £1,277,222 after deducting fixed assets and restricted balances. The trustees note a requirement for a high level of reserves due to substantial investment in fixed assets and the trading subsidiary. The independent auditors confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate with no material uncertainties identified. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by MC Audit Limited.
Who funds THE SWANAGE RAILWAY TRUST?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SWANAGE RAILWAY TRUST as a grant recipient include M J CAMP CHARITABLE FOUNDATION.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
Funders of similar charities
Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.
Charities like this
Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with VINTAGE TRAINS CHARITABLE TRUST.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.