BAKER, THOMAS (_son of a farmer at Old Park, Durham_). A civil
engineer; invented method of laying down railway curves; laid out
Stockton and Darlington railway the first line in the kingdom,
opened 27 Sep. 1825; laid out atmospheric line from Dublin to
Kingstown, opened 17 Dec. 1834; author of _Rudimentary treatise on
mensuration_ 1850; _Principles and practice of statics and
dynamics_ 1851; _The mathematical theory of the steam engine_