"It was a great pleasure to see the team evolving over the years and finally being able to contribute in some small way to their success in 2024 with continued support in 2025.
I’m sure they will all go on to bigger and better things as the dedication and work ethic of all concerned was fantastic."
Mark Allsopp
Business Development Manager, East and South East
Locomotive success for Sheffield University Team!
Ecobat Battery | November 11, 2024
Providing Numax Batteries to Engineering Students at the University of Sheffield.
The IMechE Railway Challenge 2024
June saw great success from the University of Sheffield Railway Challenge team, after they won the IMechE Railway Challenge 2024! The IMechE Railway Challenge is a competition held every June, where engineering students from all over the world are challenged to build a small-scale working train. The challenge annually begins in October and the final event is June/July the following year which this year was held at the Stapleford Miniature Railway in Leicestershire. Amongst the teams, there were Mechanical Engineering Students, Graduates and Apprentices all working in the field. The Sheffield team has approximately thirty undergraduate students from across engineering disciplines. Participants must design and produce a miniature railway locomotive following the precise rules and technical regulations from the board. The design, manufacturing and testing phases provide individuals with a comprehensive understanding of the engineering process. By collaborating in teams, they also foster a development of essential personal skills including finance, communications, management and planning.
Numax Leisure Batteries
Ecobat Battery proudly sponsored the team with the support from our East and South East Business Development Manager, Mark Allsopp. Our lead acid batteries powered the heart of their locomotive, fuelling innovation and sustainability. We donated 4 x Numax XV31 batteries and a Victron Charger. Ecobat Battery provides battery systems and solutions for a variety of railway vehicles to the modern rail industry. Choosing the correct leisure battery is all about understanding your power usage. The Numax leisure range covers all situations, applications and levels of power usage depending on what you need from your battery. Leisure batteries are not simple “black boxes”. The design and materials used to play a decisive role when determining the life span and durability of the cells. The XV range are heavy-duty dual-purpose leisure batteries designed for starting and deep cycle. Marketing Co-ordinator Will, shared 'A huge factor us winning this year was us using new Ecobat batteries, since last year we lost a lot of points in this category due to battery failure.'
The Winning Team
As well as winning the overall competition, the team also won in several other categories:
- Auto-Coupler Challenge
- Remote Data Monitoring
- Location Announcement
- Auto-Stop Challenge
- Innovation Challenge
- Reliability Challenge