Engineering students compete to build best locomotive at IMechE Railway Challenge

A joint team of seven aspiring engineers from the University and Siemens is gearing up to compete in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Railway Challenge, taking place on from 29 June - 2 July at the Stapleford Miniature Railway near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

The competition will see 12 teams compete against each other to design and manufacture the best, most innovative, efficient and quietest small-scale locomotive.

Andrey Kondratjev, Team Leader for the Siemens/University of Southampton’s team said:

“Taking part in the Railway Challenge gives us the opportunity to put our imagination and resourcefulness to the test.

“As early career engineers, the experience in multi-disciplinary project such as this, combining electrical, mechanical engineering, procurement and logistics skills will be invaluable to the whole team in our current & future careers and we are looking forward to the final competition in June.

Philippa Oldham, Head of Transport and Manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said:

“The Railway Challenge gives competitors a fantastic chance to test their engineering skills and get the hands-on experience of what’s needed to make a locomotive from start to finish.

“Each year the entries impress the judges with new innovations, of particular note are the solutions proposed for the energy storage and energy efficiency challenges. These are two big issues currently being faced by manufacturers and so solving these challenges could mean that these young engineers could help to revolutionise our modern railways.

“This year looks set to be a tight contest, with more teams than ever and three previous winners taking part.”

The competition comprises of a series of track based and presentation challenges, including a design report and an ‘Innovation Challenge’ which involves the production of an academic paper on the innovations in the loco. The track based challenges include: energy storage, traction, ride comfort, noise, maintainability and energy efficiency.

The locomotives that will be competing are designed to work on 10¼” gauge railway line and must be powerful enough to transport a 600kg load – including one of the Railway Challenge judges.