A spiker is a piece of rail transport

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

 maintenance of way equipment. Its purpose is to drive rail spikes into the tie

Railroad tie

A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...

s on a rail track

Rail tracks

The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...

 to hold the rail in place. Many different sizes of spikers are manufactured and in use around the world.

Historically, Spikers was the slang-name for the rail workers who drove in the spikes after the gandy dancer

Gandy dancer

Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines....

s laid the track on the tie.