Celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birth of engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel were due to begin in Bristol on Tuesday.
Bristol holds the Victorian engineer in high esteem
Brunel 200 is a year-long celebration and includes a street party on his birthday weekend, 8 April, and a major exhibition on the SS Great Britain.
A schools education programme will also run throughout the region.
The range of Brunel's talent includes Clifton Suspension Bridge, the Great Western Railway and Temple Meads.
In 1839 he began work on the SS Great Britain which was built in the Great Western Dockyard and is now one of Bristol's major tourist attractions.
Leslie Perrin, chairman of Brunel 200, said: "Brunel captured the public imagination like no other engineer and he remains an inspiration today to the people of Britain and to innovators of all kinds around the world."
As part of the celebrations Wessex Trains is naming a train Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
It will run from Penzance to Bristol, Temple Meads, where it will be met by guests of Brunel 200.
The city's Lord Mayor, Councillor Simon Cook, was due to name the train on Tuesday afternoon.