Traction and power
Battery, inverter, motor, gearing, and energy management.
The locomotive
A compact railway system. A full-scale engineering problem.
Our locomotive brings traction, power, controls, braking, running gear, structure, manufacturing, and systems integration into one working machine.
At a glance
Key figures.
- Scale
- Approximately 1/6 scale
- Gauge
- 10¼-inch railway gauge
- Power
- Electric traction
Systems
Every subsystem has to agree at the rail.
Controls and safety
Operator controls, embedded software, sensing, and fail-safe behavior.
Running gear
Bogies, wheelsets, suspension, braking, and track interaction.
Structure and integration
Frame, packaging, manufacturing, testing, and maintainability.
Traction
A battery-electric drivetrain, built in house.
Cells, pack assembly, battery management, motor controller, and traction motor are all student-integrated, so the team owns and can measure the entire energy path from cell to rail.
The Railway Challenge
Designed to be examined, operated, and maintained.
The IMechE Railway Challenge asks student and apprentice teams to design and manufacture a 10¼-inch-gauge locomotive, then demonstrate design, business, reliability, maintainability, traction, braking, and ride-comfort performance.
Progress
Recent work on the machine.
No public progress notes yet.
Updates are written in the club’s content system and appear here once an editor publishes them.