Benjamin Baker (engineer)
Sir Benjamin Baker was an English civil engineer who worked in mid to late Victorian era. He helped develop the early underground railways in London with Sir John Fowler, but he is best known for his work on the Forth Bridge. He made many other notable contributions to civil engineering, including his work as an expert witness at the public inquiry into the Tay Rail Bridge disaster. Later, he helped design and build the first Aswan dam.
Benjamin Baker as a young engineer
Cleopatra's Needle from the River Thames, London
Original Tay Bridge from the north
Fallen Tay Bridge from the north
Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet
Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, KCMG, LLD, FRSE was an English civil engineer specialising in the construction of railways and railway infrastructure. In the 1850s and 1860s, he was engineer for the world's first underground railway, London's Metropolitan Railway, built by the "cut-and-cover" method under city streets. In the 1880s, he was chief engineer for the Forth Bridge, which opened in 1890. Fowler's was a long and eminent career, spanning most of the 19th century's railway expansion, and he was engineer, adviser or consultant to many British and foreign railway companies and governments. He was the youngest president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, between 1865 and 1867, and his major works represent a lasting legacy of Victorian engineering.
Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet
Construction of the Metropolitan Railway close to King's Cross station in 1861
Forth Bridge
Fowler's A class locomotive