The University of Sheffield's Faculty of Engineering Railway Department
As readers will know from previous articles, part of the Trust’s charitable focus on Education involves working with the University of Sheffield’s Railway department, specifically with their 3rd-year students and their ’RCAS’ group – the Railway Challenge at Sheffield. The latter is open to not only students of the railway department, but to all engineering students as part of an extra-curricular activity.
The IMechE 2025 Challenge
In 2025, the University of Sheffield again entered the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Railway Challenge for the 11th time. For 10 years the teams had developed their entries, gaining experience year on year, as well as having to adapt to rule changes, culminating in last year winning 6 (out of the 14) individual challenges and the overall competition. So no pressure for this year’s team!
This year, three members of the Trust were present on both the Saturday and the Sunday to not only publicise the Trust with our stand, but to support the team from Sheffield. Sheffield’s competition this year included teams from FH Aachen (winners in 2022 and third this year), Network Rail and Colas Rail (2025 grand champions), Poznan University (2023 winners), TN Nurnberg (second in 2025), Newcastle University, Transport for London and the University of Derby with Alstom. First time entrants were Anglia Ruskin University, University of Cambridge, ESTACA and the Monash University from Australia.
The overall RCAS team has up 42 students back on the campus but not all were present at the weekend. They arrived on the Thursday evening and camped out all weekend. The Sheffield locomotive was a brand new design. With the team’s decision to keep the 2024 winning locomotive intact, it could be displayed (and was to great effect at not only this year’s Open Day at CTL Seal but giving rides at the Greatest Gathering). The Trust was again one of their sponsors, with the loco proudly carrying a vinyl nameplate ‘Spirit of Sandringham’.
Arriving on Saturday, John Barnes and John Pearson set up our publicity stand in the marquee. Over the two days, we had many interesting chats with visitors, particularly those coming on the Sunday, which is a public day, answering their (sometimes) very technical questions about our project. We also saw their preparations for the main run over the 2-mile 10.25” gauge line on the Saturday, successfully completing the circuit with two coaches containing some of the judges.
Of interest this year was the new turntable, allowing all the teams to be located conveniently together, and in the future allowing a significant increase in the number of teams the site can accommodate. We were very impressed with the dedication shown by team members as they solved gremlins with some of the new components, which included downloading new software to solve tuning issues with the new direct drive motors and working late into the night to get the loco ready. However, because every component was new, time beat them on a couple of challenges such as the autocoupler and the auto stop. In the end, they won three challenges – the Ride Comfort, Innovation and the Technical and Aesthetic Poster challenges. The team was superbly organised and led by Team Principal, Jacob Kunz.
Special thanks go to the third member there at the weekend, Roy Horrocks; he again worked with the team this year mentoring them, attending several online meetings, reviewing and finally signing off necessary documents prior to the competition start.
Railway Challenge at Sheffield (RCAS) 2024
This year’s Railway Challenge took place on 28-30th June at Stapleford Park. Sheffield’s competition included teams from FH Aachen and Reuschling, Heriot-Watt University, IIT Kharagpur (from India), Network Rail and Colas Rail, Newcastle University, Poznan University, Siemens Mobility, Transport for London, University of Birmingham, University of Derby / Alstom, University of Huddersfield and the University of Warwick.
The Sheffield locomotive was heavily modified from last year’s brand-new design. The only parts from previous entries were the wheels. The Trust was again one of their sponsors and the loco proudly carried the vinyl nameplate ‘Spirit of Sandringham’. This year, they surpassed themselves, winning six of the individual challenges (Innovation, Auto-Coupler, Location Announcement, Remote Data Recording and Monitoring, Auto-Stop, and joints in Reliability) and the overall competition. The team, led by Team Principal Charlotte Currie, was crowned as Grand Champions for the first time, posting a team and competition record points score.
Ongoing Relationship and Design Briefs (MEC 307)
We have continued to build a working relationship with colleagues in Sheffield in two forms:
1. IMechE Annual Railway Challenge: We sit in on their Design Evaluation Meetings and assist them by making constructive suggestions via several Zoom meetings throughout the year.
2. Group Design Briefs: As an integral part of their 3rd Year Engineering Course, undergraduates take part in a Group Design Brief supplied by Industry. For the past 4 years, we have provided briefs (MEC 307) dealing with the Tender, the smokebox, and the firebox. Students are mentored via Zoom, and grants have been obtained to realize some of the design solutions.
Railway Challenge 2021-2023
In 2023, the team designed and built an entirely new single-body locomotive in just one year. RCAS was able to compete in all challenges and achieved their highest overall competition score to date by a significant margin, finishing in 4th place overall and winning the Technical Poster and Innovation Challenges.
In 2021, despite the pandemic restricting attendance, the team achieved its first podium finish, taking 2nd place overall and gaining a special award for 'Illuminating Design'.
University Visits to CTL Seal
In March 2023, Chairman Brian Hall welcomed 12 students and their Tutor to CTL Seal for a briefing. Formed into two groups, each viewed the assembled B17 and Clan frame structures. Engineering Director Geoff Turner participated, describing the documentary control measures required for mainline operation, including design, manufacture, inspection, and test activities.
In June 2021, students were shown the mainframe structure of Spirit of Sandringham and the recently cast Hornblock castings. The visit concluded with a presentation about the service life of the class B17s and outlined design improvements embodied in the new build version.
Technical Development (2020)
Since October 2020, we have provided briefs based on the design of an LNER Tender for use on the mainline in the 21st Century. This exercise assists the Trust in designing our new tender while improving student experience.
