A SET of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s technical drawing instruments was showed off to the press for the first time by the Steam Museum.

The Adver reported the museum’s acquisition of the instruments early this month, but the valuable pieces of engineering history were presented for photos by the Friends of Museum Railway Museum chairman Alan Wild and STEAM director Stephen Gregory on April 17.

The instruments are on display in the ‘Building the Railway’ exhibition area inside an oak case inlaid with a brass plate inscribed ‘I K BRUNEL.’

STEAM’s curator, Frances Yeo, said: “We are very excited to have purchased this set of drawing instruments at auction. This has been made possible by a generous contribution from the Friends of Swindon Railway Museum together with visitor donations to STEAM’s Acquisition Fund.

“Owned by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the size of the set suggests these may have been instruments he took with him when he travelled across the GWR railway network.

“These instruments have an excellent provenance, having been given to the seller’s grandfather by Brunel’s son Henry Marc Brunel in 1902.

“As possibly the greatest engineer of all time, these drawing instruments were the tools of Brunel’s trade. He was instrumental in the development of the GWR and the building of ‘New Swindon’.

We have a number of signed Brunel engineering drawings within the STEAM collections, which may have been drawn using these very same instruments.

‘The Art of Publicity’ and ‘The GWR Publicity Machine’

Celebrating the world-famous advertising campaigns and publicity materials created by the GWR, these displays are open every day and are included with STEAM admission and season tickets.