North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust
Registered charity 501388 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as NORTH YORK MOORS HISTORICAL RAILWAY TRUST LIMITED, NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS RAILWAY
A living museum providing educational experiences of operating UK railway heritage, preservation and access to historic steam and diesel locomotives, carriages, structures, artefacts and archives, with the welfare benefits of volunteering opportunities and conservation of its species rich lineside environment in a National Park.
Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the group recorded a surplus of £728,028 for the year ended 28 February 2025, a significant improvement from the previous year's deficit. However, the charity holds no free reserves, with unrestricted general funds in a deficit position of £3,242,051, which the trustees attribute to the high cost of maintaining heritage assets. The group remains dependent on bank facilities and donor support to manage its seasonal cash flow and ongoing operational costs.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £-3.2m)
“This position has made the highly desirable building of reserves exceptionally difficult, and therefore the Charity, in common with many others in its sector, holds no free reserves. At the year-end, free reserves were in a deficit position of £3,242,051” — page 22
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Hire of locomotives to North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group, of which Mr A Scott is President.
“£39,130 was paid for the hire of locomotives to the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group, of which Mr A Scott is President” — page 68
“£500 was paid to the Esk Valley Railway Development company, of which Mr J Swift is a Director” — page 68
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Payment to Esk Valley Railway Development company, of which Chairman Mr J Swift is a Director.
“£39,130 was paid for the hire of locomotives to the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group, of which Mr A Scott is President” — page 68
“£500 was paid to the Esk Valley Railway Development company, of which Mr J Swift is a Director” — page 68
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: NYMR Plc
“The financial statements cover the activities of the NYMR Group ("the Group") comprising the NYMR and its controlled subsidiary, NYMR plc ("the PLC").” — page 5
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by BHP LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — North Yorkshire Moors Railway (matched by registered charity number).
Property (HM Land Registry)
4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (4 freehold); recorded price paid £385k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 28/02/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£338k
Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 3.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- Jeremy Swiftchair · trustee of 2 other charities
- Andrew David Mead · trustee of 1 other charity
- Andrew Edward Stuart
- Andrew John Scott
- COLIN MARTIN
- David Boddy
- David James Slack · trustee of 2 other charities
- JOHN BRUCE
- JOHN PHILIP CURETON BAILEY
- John Barry Green
- John Donaldson Philip
- Kevin Yeoman
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: North Yorkshire
Income and spending
Common questions
Is North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the group recorded a surplus of £728,028 for the year ended 28 February 2025, a significant improvement from the previous year's deficit. However, the charity holds no free reserves, with unrestricted general funds in a deficit position of £3,242,051, which the trustees attribute to the high cost of maintaining heritage assets. The group remains dependent on bank facilities and donor support to manage its seasonal cash flow and ongoing operational costs. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by BHP LLP.
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 NORTH YORK MOORS NATIONAL PARK 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.