The IMechE’s Railway Challenge (www.imeche.org) has attracted a record-breaking 15 teams of undergraduates, recent graduates and apprentices in industry — from the UK and overseas; they will be vying to win the Railway Challenge Grand Champion title in 2020.

The latest event has also attracted a number of new entrants — namely, teams from Newcastle University, Queen Mary University and Lenz Ltd.

The Challenge requires teams to design and manufacture a miniature (101/4in gauge) railway locomotive that can achieve high levels of performance in terms of traction, energy storage, acceleration, braking and handling.

In addition to the on-track tests, each team will be required to ‘present their design to a large company that is considering the production of a locomotive and tender submissions against other requirements for assessment’.

All the designs will be judged along with the associated submissions and presentations to determine the best overall locomotive.

The teams taking part in the 2020 competition are: FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences and Reuschling; Bombardier Transportation; University of Huddersfield; Poznan University of Technology; Ricardo Rail; Transport for London; South Western Railway; Newcastle University; University of Birmingham; Brunel University (London); Queen Mary University of London; the University of Sheffield; University of Warwick; Network Rail; and Lenz Ltd.

The competition returns to the Stapleford Miniature Railway in Melton Mowbray from 25 to 28 June 2020.