Engineering extremes: Innovation on the rails

Trainspotting is going viral on TikTok. But the real stars of the railways are engineers like Mike Baker, who has spent his career helping the industry evolve

Over at Doncaster Works, in South Yorkshire, Mike Baker’s great grandfather helped build the Flying Scotsman, one of the world’s most iconic steam trains. 

A century later, a very different train, with Mike’s fingerprints on it, hurtled towards Glasgow, where world leaders gathered for the COP26 summit. 
The Flying Scotsman was the first train to reach 100mph, slicing hours off journey times. But, by late 2021, trains blistered at three times that speed, and the big game in town was sustainability. 

The train on its way to COP26 was called HydroFlex, the world’s first “tri-mode” train, which can run on hydrogen, rely on battery power, or use electrified lines. Mike’s slice of HydroFlex history involved the engineering behind the installation of more than three tonnes of battery cells. It was the latest project in a 20-year career that’s taken Mike from measuring subway tunnels in Toronto, Canada, to pulling real trains into digital workshops using 3D scans.

An IMechE member, Mike grew up tinkering with anything he could get his hands on, from a bicycle to a collection of remote-controlled cars. For as long as he can remember, he’s been fixing things. He’s just like his father, who’d often be found working on a friend’s car in the family garage. 

Mike’s first job in rail involved measuring trains and tunnels, to make sure the one could fit through the other. Long gone were the days of polystyrene blocks that stood in for trains. Mike worked for a company developing gauging systems and software that Network Rail would go on to buy. 

One of his early assignments was in Toronto. He and his team spent three weeks carefully calibrating 50 lasers and eight high-resolution cameras, which would sweep the inside of Toronto’s subway tunnels. The instruments were attached to a drum, which in turn attached to a train. Everything was on track, until the team arrived in Toronto. 

The problems piled up quickly. Mike and the team found that every laser was out of alignment. They were a long way from their workshop, with a prototype system and a bunch of complications they hadn’t planned for. 

“It was the most challenging time in my career,” says Mike. “We did whatever we needed to get the job done. We bought parts (like a rotation table) on eBay. We spent another three weeks calibrating the system in the depot cellar. But we fitted everything and measured the whole network in a week. We solved all the problems, which is what engineers love to do.” 
Success in Toronto opened the doors to a similar project in New York, and orders back home. Over the years, Mike worked for the likes of Unipart Rail, Balfour Beatty Rail and Bombardier Transportation. At times, his job was to help keep fleets of old trains running while finding ways to replace discontinued parts. 

“Imagine a taxi company with 5,000 Austin Allegros that are doing 1,000 miles a day. And you’ve got to keep them running,” Mike explains. 
He also worked with new fleets, which introduced him to the innovation sweeping through the industry. After setting up his own company, Akriveia, Mike began to focus more on the future of trains and the railway sector. 

What materials can be used to make trains lighter? Can hydrogen trains like the HydroFlex go mainstream? How do you safely install a 5m-long battery (that can bridge a gap along an otherwise electrified railway) below the feet of hundreds of passengers? How can exhaust systems evolve? What role will biofuels play in greener railway networks? And how do you adapt solutions from a passenger train, running 20 miles along a branch line, to a train hauling 2,000 tonnes of freight for 400 miles at a time. 

“It’s the most innovative and exciting time,” says Mike. “The industry used to be risk averse, but now it’s buzzing. Everything is open. We don’t have to build trains like battleships any more purely because that’s how they’ve always been built. Safety comes first, of course, but the industry is embracing new materials and technologies.” 

To solve some of these puzzles, Mike is using 3D scanning to map out trains. Having digital models – which show every nut, bolt and cable – helps companies innovate and may just help answer some of the questions the industry faces. 

Mike hopes to see more young engineers getting stuck in. From finding safe, new sources of power to improving the passenger experience, he says the field is wide open for those who enjoy problem solving. 

Mike’s young son is already asking questions about oiling a bicycle chain and volunteering to help tighten the brakes. One day, he might be testing suspension stiffness or measuring how batteries affect a train’s centre of gravity. For now, Mike is only too happy to take his family to the National Railway Museum in York, where he first discovered his family’s link to the Flying Scotsman. 

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