Community rail is all about engaging local communities. This category is no longer just about one-off community rail events, it is also about long-term engagement within communities. It aims to highlight the creativity and hard work that goes into developing, organising and promoting community engagement projects on and linked to the railway.

One-off projects must come within the required timeframe as laid out in the rules of entry, however rolling community engagement projects can be submitted here, and are exempt from the date limitations, but there must be clear evidence that the project is continually evolving and adapting to the needs of the community.

Any current (paid/subscribed) Community Rail Network member, which may be a community rail partnership (CRP), station adoption / friends’ group or a community station group.

Non-member community groups, or rail industry partners can also submit entries, but only where a project was undertaken in partnership with a Community Rail Network member CRP or station group. The entry must clearly demonstrate this partnership working, showing how the project has fulfilled the judging criteria below.

The entry must also be approved by the member group as the primary entry for the joint project and the group’s contact details must be provided.

• Clearly demonstrates, through evidence, the impact of the project- How did it contribute to creating social value? How did it strengthen the community? How did it improve inclusion and accessibility?
• Successful engagement in person or online across the community or target audience – successful efforts were made to engage people inclusively, or among a clear target audience;
• Engaging, enjoyable and beneficial – there is evidence it was well-received and those involved saw benefits to mobility, inclusion, health, wellbeing or awareness;
• Empowering and awareness raising – it successfully shared knowledge, opportunities, confidence and/or awareness, for example about rail travel, local history, culture, or environment;
• Interactive and drew on community viewpoints – the project enabled interaction with and between the community, such as drawing on and sharing local perspectives, memories and ideas.

'Best Community Engagement Project' is sponsored by RSSB.

2026 1st Place Winner – Marston Vale CRP and Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity for 'Rails to Roots at Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre'

Although the buildings at Ridgmont Station had undergone extensive restoration in recent years, the garden area had become neglected. To address this challenge and support the health and wellbeing of the community along the Marston Vale Line, ‘Rails to Roots’ was set up in May 2023.

Marston Vale CRP worked closely with Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity (BRCC), who provided staff time for fundraising, marketing, and setting up and running the gardening group sessions. Over time, the nature-based activities of the project evolved to incorporate ‘try the train’ trips aimed at boosting safe, independent and confident rail travel, and other volunteering opportunities within the Heritage Centre and Tea Rooms.

Support for the project extended beyond the community. Volunteer teams from Network Rail, London Northwestern Railway and East West Rail were recruited to help construct raised beds for fruit and vegetables, and the Friends of Ridgmont Station created a memorial rose garden and planted a wildlife friendly hedge in the Heritage Centre car park.

Close links with BRCC’s social prescribing team proved integral. Through this service, ‘Rails to Roots’ has been signposted across the area as a social, rail-accessible project, and the benefits generated have been significant. Not only has it greatly enhanced the outdoor spaces of the site, making it more vibrant and welcoming, it has supported those involved to learn new skills, be more socially and physically active, and feel more connected to their community and their local station.

2025 1st Place Winner - Friends of Blair Atholl Station for 'Sharing our Past, Building our Future'

The intergenerational, multimedia project ‘Shaping our Past, Building our Future’, undertaken by the Friends of Blair Atholl Station, set out to help the community reconnect with its neglected station, reinforcing its important place in the future of the village and the Highland Line.

Aided by National Lottery Heritage Funding, the project began recording oral histories of those who remembered the station in its heyday – older villagers, rail employees and longstanding visitors. The interviews were posted as podcasts online via the Friends group’s website and YouTube channel, as well as later published as a book. One of the personal histories was transformed into an animated short film and a children’s storybook, entitled ‘Mike’s Station’. Two workshops on station history and animation were delivered at the local primary school, and the volunteers hosted a trip for every single pupil to come and visit the station.

As the culmination of the project, the threads of past, present and potential future of Blair Atholl Station were brought together in a weekend-long, well-attended exhibition in the village hall. The volunteers are now working on the next stage of their plan, seeking funding for a feasibility study to renovate the empty station house into a thriving community hub.

Check out previous 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners of this category from 2017-2022.

Entries for our 2027 Awards open at 9am on Tuesday 1 September and close at 5pm on Wednesday 30 September 2026.

Check back then to submit your entry!