Items from Brunel's 19th century Great Western railway have been excavated by archaeologists at a site in London

© Crossrail

© Crossrail

© Crossrail

© Great Western Trust

© Great Western Trust

© Crossrail

© Crossrail

© Crossrail

Artefacts from a Victorian-era transport infrastructure, built by engineering forefather Isambard Kingdom Brunel for his broad-gauge Great Western steam railway nearly 200 years ago, are being laser scanned after archaeologists discovered them near Paddington as part of an extensive search for ancient rail remnants.A 200-metre long engine shed, workshop and train turntables were found on a construction site known as Paddington New Yard, to the east of Westbourne Park Tube Station, in a glimpse of the industrial past and Brunel’s designs for a track first used in 1838.The shed shows evidence of the switch made from the seven foot-wide broad guage train tracks, used by Great Western, to the standard gauge tracks prescribed in an Act of Parliament and implemented by the 1960s – a ruling Brunel resisted, creating a conflict known as the Gauge Wars.A series of 3D modles are now being made of the 1850s buildings, which were levelled and replaced by a goods storage yard in 1906.“Whenever we expose parts of the original infrastructure it is vital to record these for posterity and the history of rail in this country,” said Jay Carver, the Lead Archaeologist on the site, who added that the scanning technology would lead to a “permanent and accurate” model of Brunel’s “distinctive architectural legacy.”“Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway is the most complete early mainline railway in the world.”New tracks, turn-back sidings, an elevated bus deck and a cement factory will be accommodated at the site from 2018.