11.03.14
Students to battle it out in locomotive competition
Five teams of students, apprentices and graduate engineers from across England will compete against each other to design and manufacture the best, most efficient and quietest small-scale locomotive.
This year’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Railway Challenge, which takes place at the Stapleford Miniature Railway near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, from 27-29 June, will see teams from Derby’s Interfleet Technology Ltd, Birmingham University, Huddersfield University, Sheffield University and Transport for London (TfL) go head-to-head.
The competition, which is now in its third year, will see a new challenge in 2014 focusing on noise. The other practical challenges are the Energy Storage Challenge, where teams need to ensure that the locomotive is able to store energy during braking and then use it to drive the locomotive forward again, the Traction Challenge and the Ride Comfort Challenge.
Philippa Oldham, head of Transport and Manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “The Railway Challenge gives students, graduates and apprentices a fantastic opportunity to test their engineering skills and to get a taste of a real business experience.
“The Challenge is run along the lines of a real-life tendering process, and teams have to prepare a business case, finance, design, and build a locomotive from scratch.”
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. The trophy will be presented to the winning team by Group Captain Mark Hunt, who in May will become president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Huddersfield University has won the 2013 Railway Challenge, and Manchester Metropolitan University came a close second. In 2012, Interfleet Technology won, followed by Manchester Metropolitan University in second, then Birmingham University and an independent team of apprentices and graduates from Derby.
You can see RTM’s coverage of previous years’ events at the following links:
www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-Industry-Focus-/the-uks-first-hydrogen-powered-locomotive
www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/railway-challenge-2013-competition-launched
www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/railway-challenge-winners-announced
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