Elisha Byron, ’25, an active-duty student who has served in the United States Navy for nearly a decade, is solving big problems on a small scale. The Electrical Engineering major participated in a senior design project focused on implementing a centralized train control system on model trains at the Charleston Area Model Railroad Club inside Citadel Mall.
Byron, who has spent much of his naval career deployed on submarines, found he has a knack for the miniature. A volunteer at the railroad club since February 2022, Byron quickly worked his way up to a leadership position within the club, where drawing on his experience as an electrical technician has served him well.
Despite the small scale, Byron and his team applied large-scale safety technology. “We are solving a real-world problem that has realworld implications,” said Byron. “In real life, scores of people have died because of a lack of positive train control across the country.” For a student who represented The Citadel at the 2025 Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Case Competition, ethical considerations in safety are everything. The competition brings together students from top schools to tackle real-world ethical dilemmas in engineering.
If a train is in danger of derailing or colliding with another train, positive train control automatically halts the train, dramatically reducing the possibility of an accident. “If a train rolls through a red signal, a positive train control system automatically senses that the train is not where it’s supposed to be,” said Byron. “It sends a signal to stop the train, then automatically engages the air brakes.”
Byron, who hopes to pursue a career with the National Transportation Safety Board after one day retiring from the Navy, has found the experience valuable in more ways than one. “This process has shown me the value of scholarship; there’s so much more behind the scenes than just being good at fixing things,” said Byron. “Design considerations are really what separate the technician from the engineer. I’ve had half a decade of technician-level experience with electrical engineering components, and now I’m able to connect dots that I never connected before. Instead of just the how, this is showing the why behind everything.”