Skip to content

Environment · Reg 292497

The Bluebell Railway Trust

75 /100

Clarity score

Good

Charity accounts, evidence & financial rating

75/100 Clarity Score · 4 stars · Charity Commission filings · How we score

Register checked 4 October 2026 · latest accounts 2024

Official regulator data
Donate
Compare this charity View accounts

Work at The Bluebell Railway Trust? Claim this profile free to add your charity’s description. Claiming never changes the score.

Quick answer

Is The Bluebell Railway Trust a good charity?

The Bluebell Railway Trust scores 75/100 (4 stars, Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2024 (£1.5m total income, 99% cause spend, 3-yr avg). This reflects financial transparency and stewardship on paper — not the real-world impact of its programmes. See the full breakdown.

Income

£1.5m

Accounts 2024-12-31

Spending

£1.1m

Accounts 2024-12-31

Charitable activities

99%

3-yr avg · share of spending

Accounts filing

Late

Check register

On this pageJump to a section
Tunbridge Wells · TN22 3QL Reg 292497 Registered charity Official website Charity Commission register

What does The Bluebell Railway Trust do?

Encouragement of research into railway equipment and safety, preservation of heritage railway items including rolling stock, maintenance and support of museums for the preservation of railway equipment, provision of recreational facilities connected with railways and assistance for persons in need connected with railway personnel, especially charitable purposes connected with the Bluebell Railway.

Activities reported by the charity on the official register · extract . This is separate from the accounts data used for its rating.

The Bluebell Railway Trust hasn't added a description directly to CharityCompare yet. Work here? Add it free →

How much does The Bluebell Railway Trust raise and spend?

Accounts period 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Source: Charity Commission filings

The Bluebell Railway Trust revenue and expenses for 2024
Category Amount % of spend
Total income £1.5m —
Total expenditure £1.1m —
Charitable activities £1.1m 100%
Fundraising £6k 0%
Reported governance £11k 1%

Governance can already be allocated within other expenditure categories. It is not a separate measure of all administration costs; do not add these rows without checking the accounts notes.

What changed in The Bluebell Railway Trust’s latest accounts?

Reported totals for 2024 compared with 2023. Changes can reflect the accounting period, restricted grants or restructuring as well as the charity’s work.

Income change
+82.5%
£803k → £1.5m
Spending change
−8.7%
£1.3m → £1.1m
Charitable activities share
+0.1 pp
99% → 100% · percentage points

These are annual figures. The Clarity Score may use averages across several disclosed years. Source: official accounts.

100%On charitable activities

Where does the money go?

Latest accounts (2024) · £1.1m spent

  • Charitable activities100%
  • Fundraising0%

Charities usually allocate governance costs across their other spending categories, and these reported figures add up to more than total spending, so governance is not drawn as a separate slice. The accounts table shows it separately.

From the annual return

What does The Bluebell Railway Trust pay its staff, and where does its money come from?

Answers The Bluebell Railway Trust gave in its annual return to the Charity Commission for the year ending 31 December 2024, plus its register entry. These are the charity's own disclosures, not part of the Clarity Score.

Where does The Bluebell Railway Trust's money come from?

The Bluebell Railway Trust reported £1.5m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were donations and legacies £1.4m (92%), investments £88k (6%), other income £22k (1%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £959k.

  • Donations and legacies £1.4m · 92%
  • Investments £88k · 6%
  • Other income £22k · 1%

Cash at year end: £2.1m · unrestricted funds: £1.8m · restricted funds: £1.7m. Restricted funds can only be spent on purposes set by the donor.

Can I claim Gift Aid, and are the trustees paid?

The register records The Bluebell Railway Trust as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration. Work out your Gift Aid

The Bluebell Railway Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.

Registration details

Registered as a charity
Where it says it operates
East Sussex · Kent · Surrey · West Sussex

Source: Charity Commission register and annual return data, Open Government Licence v3.0. A blank answer in the return is shown as not reported, never as “no”.

How have The Bluebell Railway Trust's finances changed over five years?

Income fell 44% from £2.6m in 2020 to £1.5m in 2024; spending was £1.1m in 2024.

£0 £1.0m £2.0m £3.0m £4.0m 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Income 2020: £2.6m Spending 2020: £1.1m Cause spend 2020: £1.1m Income 2021: £1.8m Spending 2021: £1.3m Cause spend 2021: £1.3m Income 2022: £596k Spending 2022: £1.4m Cause spend 2022: £1.4m Income 2023: £803k Spending 2023: £1.3m Cause spend 2023: £1.2m Income 2024: £1.5m Spending 2024: £1.1m Cause spend 2024: £1.1m
  • Income
  • Spending
  • Cause spend
The Bluebell Railway Trust income and spending by accounts year
Year Income Spending Charitable activities
2024 £1.5m £1.1m £1.1m
2023 £803k £1.3m £1.2m
2022 £596k £1.4m £1.4m
2021 £1.8m £1.3m £1.3m
2020 £2.6m £1.1m £1.1m

Cause spend is plotted only when the filing discloses a split · Source: Charity Commission filings

Financial context

How do its finances compare with similar charities?

Compare The Bluebell Railway Trust with 37 other environment charities in our detailed dataset: the same regulator, £1m–£5m income band and accounts ending in 2024. Each period covers 50–54 weeks. These are reference points, not targets or a ranking of impact.

Swipe across the table to see the peer median and coverage.

Latest annual figures, accounts ending 2024-12-31. Peer medians exclude this charity; the median is the middle value.
MeasureThis charityPeer medianPeer coverage
Annual income £1.5m £2.0m 37 of 37
Annual spending £1.1m £1.9m 37 of 37
Charitable activities share 99.5% 88.7% 36 of 37

The annual spending share can differ from the multi-year average shown elsewhere. Missing disclosures are excluded, never counted as zero. We show a median only with at least ten peer disclosures. Different year-end months, restricted funding and delivery models can still limit comparisons.

How peers are selected Check this charity’s source accounts Choose between similar charities

How does The Bluebell Railway Trust compare?

The share of each group scoring at or below The Bluebell Railway Trust, including tied scores. A group matched on cause, income band and accounts year appears when at least ten records qualify. Broader groups below may mix reporting periods and operating models. Groups include this charity; percentiles measure our financial rating, not impact.

Same cause, income band and accounts year (2024) 62ndpercentile

Scores at or above 62% of 39 charities with the same primary cause, income band and latest accounts year · 75/100 vs 73 peer average.

Income band (£1m–£5m) 39thpercentile

Scores at or above 39% of 2,720 charities in its income band · 75/100 vs 78 peer average.

Environment charities 54thpercentile

Scores at or above 54% of 458 charities in this cause · 75/100 vs 72 peer average.

How does The Bluebell Railway Trust compare, and where else can you look?

Compare The Bluebell Railway Trust with others More environment charities How we score charities

Where The Bluebell Railway Trust sits

The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby.

Similar environment charities

Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score

Evidence and interpretation

What the evidence says about The Bluebell Railway Trust

In 2024, reported income was £1,465,642 and expenditure was £1,145,630. Income exceeded expenditure by £320,012. This annual balance is not the charity’s available cash or unrestricted reserves.

More financial context

Income rose 82.5% compared with 2023. Read the accounts notes for restricted grants, legacies and one-off receipts before treating the movement as a trend.

Calculated from our dated accounts dataset, refreshed 2026-09-06. This is not an audit or a manual review of every filing. Original register and accounts · How calculations work.

Find the right support

Who it supports and how to access its work

Reported beneficiaries: Other Defined Groups; The General Public/mankind.

How it works: Makes Grants To Organisations; Provides Human Resources; Sponsors Or Undertakes Research.

Use the official contact details to check eligibility, referrals, waiting lists and current service coverage. Broad register classifications and a contact address do not confirm that a particular service is available to you.

Explore source-checked support routes

Classifications supplied to the register; extract 2026-10-04. Register contact and activity details · Website listed for this charity

Look beyond the score

Results and impact evidence

We have not added a source-checked programme outcome for this charity. That is a gap in this profile, not evidence that the charity has no impact. Its annual report may contain results that have not been assessed here.

Reported grants to institutions: £0 (2024-12-31). This is spending reported in the annual return, not a measure of beneficiary outcomes or an open grant opportunity. It may already be included in charitable expenditure. Check the source accounts.

What these results can tell you

Counts of services delivered describe activity. They do not by themselves establish lasting change, what would have happened without the programme, or cost-effectiveness. Results with different definitions, populations or years should not be ranked against each other.

How to judge charity impact evidence

What is The Bluebell Railway Trust's Beacon report?

Detailed accountability and finance metrics from UK regulator filings — structured for transparency in our four-beacon report.

Accountability & Transparency

Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.

38/100

Accountability & Transparency metrics for The Bluebell Railway Trust
Metric Score Value
Filing history (5 years)

No recorded lateness in available history = 15 pts · one late filing = 5 pts · two or more or unknown status = 0 pts. Missing data is not proof of late filing.

 0% 0/15 pts
Trustee oversight

Three or more trustees on the register = 15 pts, scaled down for fewer (governance red flag below three).

 33% 1 trustee · 5/15 pts
Declared policies

Safeguarding (4) · conflict of interest (3) · volunteer management (3) — from Charity Commission annual return.

 100% 10/10 pts

Financial Health

Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.

100/100

Financial Health metrics for The Bluebell Railway Trust
Metric Score Value
Reserves (months of expenditure)

3–24 months = full marks, tapering on both sides · 0 months or 4+ years = 0 pts. Reserves are not necessarily cash; needs vary by operating model.

 100% 11 months · 15/15 pts
Income stability / growth

+20% or more over the window = 10 pts · flat = 5 pts · −20% or worse = 0 pts, scaled between.

 100% 10/10 pts · 3-year average
Liabilities to assets

0% liabilities-to-assets = 5 pts, scaling down to 0 pts at 60%+ debt.

 100% 1% · 5/5 pts

Financial Efficiency

How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.

100/100

Financial Efficiency metrics for The Bluebell Railway Trust
Metric Score Value
Program expense ratio

90%+ on charitable activities = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 50% or below.

 100% 99% · 10/10 pts (3-year average)
Fundraising efficiency

≤10p to raise £1 = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 40p or above (fundraising cost ÷ income).

 100% 1p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average, disclosed years)

Community Support

Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.

100/100

Community Support metrics for The Bluebell Railway Trust
Metric Score Value
Volunteer-to-staff ratio

Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between.

 100% 75 volunteers / 0 staff · 10/10 pts

How we calculate beacon scores →

What trust indicators does The Bluebell Railway Trust have?

Pulled from the Charity Commission register — filing behaviour, board size, and workforce where reported.

  • Accounts filed on time

    Filing status: late

  • Trustee board size (3–12)

    1 trustees on the Charity Commission register

  • Workforce on register

    0 employees · 75 volunteers

Fundraising Regulator

Status not yet checked

Separate from our financial scores. Registration records a commitment to the Code of Fundraising Practice; it does not certify every fundraising activity.

Check Fundraising Regulator →

Official register

Reg 292497

Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission.

View on Charity Commission →

Trustees & officers

  • BRT Trustee Limited since 2018

How reliable is The Bluebell Railway Trust's data?

Source
Charity Commission (England & Wales)
Accounts year
2024
Filing date
Data refreshed

Medium confidence — some data missing or late

Scores reflect the accounts in our dated data extract. The live register may contain newer filings. Clarity Score measures how clearly the charity accounts for money in those filings — not programme impact.

Check the current register entry · Report a data correction

Financial source extract: 2026-09-06. Organisation identifier: 292497. Method version: 1.1. View method changes.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: Charity Commission for England and Wales, Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Open Government Licence v3.0 .

Your donation decision

What should you check before donating to The Bluebell Railway Trust?

  1. 1. Match the name and charity number

    Check 292497 on the official register. A real charity number alone does not prove that a fundraiser or appeal is authentic.

    Verify the registration →

  2. 2. Read the accounts in context

    Our latest accounts data covers 2024. Compare the accounts period, spending and reserves. An administration cost ratio alone cannot tell you how effective a charity is.

    Explore the financial evidence →

  3. 3. Look for evidence of results

    Read the trustees’ annual report for activities, outcomes and limitations. The Clarity Score measures public reporting; it does not establish the impact of a donation.

    How to read charity accounts →

  4. 4. Compare charities serving your cause

    Compare up to four charities, check the dates behind their figures, and decide which work you want to support. Complete your donation through a verified charity channel.

    Start a comparison with The Bluebell Railway Trust →
How we score charities +

The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.

Full methodology →

Accountability & Transparency

Scored from filings

40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).

Financial Health

Scored from filings

30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).

Financial Efficiency

Scored from filings

20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).

Community Support

Scored from filings

10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.

Overall score

Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.

How can you share The Bluebell Railway Trust's rating?

Share: XLinkedInFacebookBluesky

Opens a printer-friendly view of this profile for The Bluebell Railway Trust.

For this charity

How do you add The Bluebell Railway Trust's rating to your site?

Free to use — a lightweight HTML badge or an embeddable score widget, each linking back to this independent profile and our methodology.

What red flags does The Bluebell Railway Trust have?

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about The Bluebell Railway Trust's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.

Is The Bluebell Railway Trust a good charity? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust scores 75 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 99% of its spending goes to charitable activities (3-yr avg) and its accounts are late. That reflects how transparent and financially healthy it looks on paper — it does not measure the real-world impact of its work, so treat it as one factor alongside the cause you care about. CharityCompare never tells you where to donate.

Is The Bluebell Railway Trust a legitimate charity? +

The register data used for this profile lists The Bluebell Railway Trust as a registered charity (charity number 292497). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=292497&subId=0. Check the current entry and the identity of anyone requesting money. Registration does not verify a particular appeal; Clarity Score summarises filing transparency, not programme impact.

What is The Bluebell Railway Trust's charity number? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust's charity number is 292497. Check that number on the official register (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI) or this CharityCompare profile before you donate — scammers sometimes reuse real numbers on fake appeals.

What is The Bluebell Railway Trust's charity rating? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust scores 75 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars — Good). The Clarity Score (method v1.1) sums four pillars from UK regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 pts), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). Stars use the same bands as those labels — 90+ is 5★ Exceptional. It is not an impact ranking.

Does The Bluebell Railway Trust have reviews and complaints? +

CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The Bluebell Railway Trust. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (3 red flags on this profile: insufficient trustee oversight; late accounts filing; poor filing history). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.

How much of my donation reaches The Bluebell Railway Trust? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 99% of The Bluebell Railway Trust's total spending went to charitable activities (3-yr avg across disclosed years). That is the closest official figure to "how much of your donation reaches the cause" — it is an average across all spending in the filing, not a pound-by-pound breakdown of an individual gift.

What are The Bluebell Railway Trust's overheads? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 1% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 1% of expenditure (2022–2024, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at The Bluebell Railway Trust. The register does not show individual salaries; senior pay is disclosed in the trustees' annual report and accounts.

How much income does The Bluebell Railway Trust receive? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust reported £1.5m total income in its 2024 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: declining.

Are The Bluebell Railway Trust's accounts up to date? +

Filing status: late (last filing 2025-11-24). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.

Where is The Bluebell Railway Trust based? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust's registered contact address is in Tunbridge Wells (TN22 3QL). It tells the regulator it operates in East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex, with a focus on environment.

Where does The Bluebell Railway Trust's money come from? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust reported £1.5m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were donations and legacies £1.4m (92%), investments £88k (6%), other income £22k (1%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £959k.

Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to The Bluebell Railway Trust? +

The register records The Bluebell Railway Trust as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration.

Are The Bluebell Railway Trust's trustees paid? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.

When was The Bluebell Railway Trust registered as a charity? +

The Bluebell Railway Trust was entered on the register on 30 August 1985.

How does CharityCompare score The Bluebell Railway Trust? +

We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The Bluebell Railway Trust's regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 points — filing history, trustees, policies), Financial Health (30 — reserves, income trend, debt), Financial Efficiency (20 — cause spend and fundraising cost, on a graduated scale) and Community Support (10 — volunteer-to-staff ratio). An open statutory inquiry scores 0. The score measures reporting on paper, not programme impact. CharityCompare is free for donors, takes no commission on donations, and scores cannot be bought.

How often is this page updated? +

This profile was last updated on 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and The Bluebell Railway Trust's most recent accounts cover 2024. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.