Isambard Kingdom Brunel 2003 book and BBC TV series "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World" included a dramatisation of the building of the "Great Eastern". Many of Brunel's bridges are still in use. Brunel's first engineering project, the Thames Tunnel, is now part of the London Overground network. The Brunel Engine House at Rotherhithe, which once housed the steam engines that powered the tunnel pumps, now houses the Brunel Museum dedicated to the work and lives of Henry Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Many of Brunel's original papers and designs are now held in the Brunel Institute alongside the in Bristol, and are
Isambard Kingdom Brunel first ship to cross the Atlantic under steam power alone. Even with a four-day head start, the competing arrived only one day earlier and its crew was forced to burn cabin furniture, spare yards and one mast for fuel. In contrast, the "Great Western" crossing of the Atlantic took 15 days and five hours, and the ship arrived at her destination with a third of its coal still remaining, demonstrating that Brunel's calculations were correct. The "Great Western" had proved the viability of commercial transatlantic steamship service, which led the Great Western Steamboat Company to use her in regular service