The IMechE Railway Challenge has grown ever since its inception, and it continues to attract and support aspiring young engineers.

It requires cross-discipline teams to work to tight deadlines, in order to address several technical and business challenges while creating a running locomotive.

The Railway Challenge brings together teams of undergraduates, industry apprentices and young professionals from the UK and overseas to develop and showcase their skills, expertise and knowledge.

Working together in a team, the participants gain real-life experience of the entire cycle of designing and manufacturing a miniature locomotive, supported by academic and industry experts who have volunteered to be officials of the Challenge.

The teams are required to assume that they work for a design consultancy that has been briefed to produce a design proposal and a prototype for a small locomotive required by a large corporation.

They will need to design and manufacture the prototype of this locomotive and then test it against others; and for 2019 there will be a new track-based challenge —an auto–stop function that will require teams to design their train to stop as close as possible to a marked point on the track.

Simon Iwnicki, chairman of the Railway Challenge, said: “This is now an established fixture in the railway industry calendar, as well as in universities where railway engineering is taught.

"More and more students and young engineers are participating in the competition, gaining an understanding of the challenges of designing and building a locomotive to compete with the best of their peers.

"Through the competition, they are also introduced to the exciting world of railway engineering and the opportunities that a career in railways leads to.

"The railway industry needs to attract the most talented engineers to help address the challenges it faces, and the Railway Challenge is definitely helping to do this.”

The Railway Challenge will take place at the Stapleford Miniature Railway in Leicestershire from 27 to 30 June 2019. Information on volunteering, sponsoring or participating in the challenge can be found on the Web site (www.imeche.org/railwaychallenge).