About Me
Since my childhood, I have enjoyed working on many different construction projects. From a Stirling engine built out of household materials to a coffee roaster made of stainless steel, and I have also motorized bicycles, a soapbox cart and later a honey extractor.
In 2012, I made it to the national finals of the Jugend forscht Contest (a German youth science competition) with a submarine made from plumbing pipes. I came fourth and received the special prize for an extraordinary technical achievement.
As I had always been enthusiastic about boating but did not have a car or driver’s license, as a schoolboy, I built the ‘Boat To Go’ – a mini catamaran that I could disassemble without tools and carry on my back like a backpack. Although my feet rarely stayed dry, I still managed day trips of up to 50 kilometers and came third in the IHP Research Prize 2013.
From 2014, I studied mechanical engineering at TU Dresden and chose to specialize in rail vehicle technology – a subject I am fond of from a technical perspective.
Rail vehicles accumulate thousands of operating hours over decades outside protected workshops or production halls, experience highly intermittent loads, and have to withstand unforeseen events. In rail vehicle construction, simplicity and high quality are not mutually exclusive and what looks simple is often particularly well thought through.
I have been a graduate engineer since 2020 and work full-time for the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (the public transport services here in Dresden). There I mainly take care of the special rail vehicles, dealing with some particular calculations and provide technical support for the Dresden Tram Museum.
However I have also remained faithful to the university for a while, at least a few hours a week. I worked on the conversion of the test bench for diesel drive technology at the Chair of Rail Vehicle Technology. Various experiments can be carried out there on a full-size drivetrain with a hydro-mechanical transmission.
I now run the one-man engineering office Simchen’s Mechanical Design on a part-time basis. One of the reasons for this was certainly the development project of the catenary antifreeze lubricator, but prototypes of constructions from outside the industry are also being diligently tested.
I’m not sure how, but for some reason new projects find me all by themselves…