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THE FFESTINIOG AND WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAYS TRUST (YMDDIRIEDOLAETH RHEILFFYRDD FFESTINIOG AC ERYRI)

Registered charity 239904 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as FFESTINIOG RAILWAY TRUST, FESTINIOG RAILWAY TRUST, YMDDIRIEDOLAETH RHEIFFORDD FFESTINIOG, WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAY TRUST, YMDDIRIEDOLAETH RHEIFFORDD ERYN, FFESTINIOG RAILWAY TRUST, FESTINIOG RAILWAY TRUST, YMDDIRIEDOLAETH RHEILFFORDD FFESTINIOG, WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAY TRUST, YMDDIRIEDOLAETH RHEIFFORDD ERYRI, THE FESTINIOG RAILWAY TRUST

Charitable purposes connected with railways, specially charitable purposes connected with the Festiniog Railway Company.

Causes: Environment/conservation/heritage · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · Get email alerts

Latest income
£11.9m
Latest spending
£11.9m
Registered
1966
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income decreased to £11.9 million in 2025 from £12.9 million in 2024, resulting in a slight net expenditure of £1,974. However, unrestricted reserves remained robust at over £10 million, and the trustees confirmed that unrestricted funds are sufficient to meet commitments and foreseeable calls on funds.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Related-party transaction: The Trust made grants to its subsidiary companies, The Festiniog Railway Company and Ffestiniog Railway Holdings Ltd.
“During the year the trust made a number of grants for charitable purposes, all of which were in connection with the above mentioned companies. Further details of grants committed and paid during the year can be found in Note 8 to these accounts.”
“A donation of £275,000 was paid to the Trust by Ffestiniog Holdings Ltd in 2025 (2024:£310,000).”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Ffestiniog Railway Holdings Ltd paid a donation to the Trust.
“During the year the trust made a number of grants for charitable purposes, all of which were in connection with the above mentioned companies. Further details of grants committed and paid during the year can be found in Note 8 to these accounts.”
“A donation of £275,000 was paid to the Trust by Ffestiniog Holdings Ltd in 2025 (2024:£310,000).”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Williams Denton Cyf. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Total income
£11.9m
Total spending
£11.9m
Cost of raising funds
£11.1m
Reserves (reported)
£10.2m
Employees
130

Reported reserves equal ~10.3 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (86% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 93.6% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Trustees · trustee networks

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Gwynedd

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/12/2025£11.9m£11.9m
31/12/2024£12.9m£13.0m
31/12/2023£13.2m£11.8m
31/12/2022£8.2m£7.9m
31/12/2021£6.6m£5.8m

Common questions

Is THE FFESTINIOG AND WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAYS TRUST (YMDDIRIEDOLAETH RHEILFFYRDD FFESTINIOG AC ERYRI) financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income decreased to £11.9 million in 2025 from £12.9 million in 2024, resulting in a slight net expenditure of £1,974. However, unrestricted reserves remained robust at over £10 million, and the trustees confirmed that unrestricted funds are sufficient to meet commitments and foreseeable calls on funds. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Williams Denton Cyf.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

FunderDateAmountPurpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund13/07/2020£250k"COVID19 Ffestiniog Railway Company"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund27/11/2019£3.9m"Interpretation and Boston Lodge Project"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund20/02/2017£464k"Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways heritage skills trainee programme"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund24/06/1998£375k"Ffestiniog Railway Heritage Project"

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CYMDEITHAS RHEILFFORDD ERYRI.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
THE FFESTINIOG AND WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAYS TRUST (YMDDIRIEDOLAETH RHEILFFYRDD FFESTINIOG AC ERYRI)£11.9m—0unclear—no doubt
CYMDEITHAS RHEILFFORDD ERYRI FY2024£147k—0above—no doubt
FFESTINIOG RAILWAY SOCIETY FY2025£425k—0unclear—no doubt
WELSHPOOL AND LLANFAIR LIGHT RAILWAY PRESERVATION CO. LIMITED FY2025£1.2m—0above—no doubt
VALE OF RHEIDOL RAILWAY LIMITED FY2024£2.1m——unclear—no doubt
THE MID-NORFOLK RAILWAY PRESERVATION TRUST FY2024£2.5m—0unclear—no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.