A SIXTH-generation family business in Swindon's Old Town, which credits the Great Western Railway for much of its early success, welcomed the great, great, great grandson of Isambard Kingdom Brunel to their shop this week.

Deacons, a jewellers in Wood Street, played host to Brunel’s descendent Isambard Thomas when he turned the clock back to retrace his forefather’s iconic railway from Bristol to London to witness first-hand how his great, great, great grandfather’s engineering shaped the business landscape.

This month marks 180 years since Brunel submitted his planned route and innovative design for the Great Western Railway, designed to connect Bristol to London.

Nicknamed 'Brunel’s Billiard Table' because of its flat gradient, the route was designed to be the most efficient and most comfortable railway system in the world.

To mark the occasion ahead of the line reverting to its traditional name of the Great Western Railway and the introduction of new high-speed electric trains, Isambard embarked on the journey on Monday morning from Bristol, and called into Deacons to learn of their involvement in railway timekeeping.

Richard Deacon revealed the Great Western Railway had been at the forefront of George Deacon’s mind when he decided to set up shop in Swindon in 1848.

He said: “What drew him to Swindon was the railway – he had the dream of keeping the railways on time.

“He bid for one of the railway timing contracts, but was the underbidder and subsequently the contract was awarded to a third party. But he became involved later on, simply because he was the boy in the town and became a sub contractor.

“Our business then flourished enormously, and George was joined by his nephew Hubert, who was very entrepreneurial – he realised the value of the railway and expanded even further.”

Isambard said the journey from Bristol through Bath to Swindon had already highlighted numerous examples of how the railway had helped businesses to thrive.

He said: “The purpose of the journey is to discover how the Great Western Railway drove business 170 years ago and how it is still continuing to do so, and what is expected with the significant upgrade to electric trains.

“It is very interesting how the world has changed and how the landscape has changed. I wonder what he would have made of some of the architecture that is around the railway now – the railway station here is rather different.”

He added he was pleased to see the line revert to its original name: “It doesn’t really suggest what it is anymore, it is a welcome return to something that wasn’t really broken.

"For them to be investing so much and making this line faster and better suggests things for the future which I am sure will be to the benefit of people."

Richard added that he too was confident for the future: "I think the economic future of Swindon is looking brighter again having probably been though a trough.

"The Great Western Railway is very important to Swindon as a town, and my dream would be to see the mode of transport of choice in the town as a tram system or light railway, connecting all areas together.

"I believe there is a lot of value in history, and whether it likes it or not, Swindon’s history is well and truly rooted in the railway."