Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"He [Brunel] had built the Great Western Railway from Bristol to London. Why not extend the line westward, across the Atlantic to New York, via steamboat? Until then, sailing ships dominated because steamships needed so much coal that there was little room for cargo or passengers. But Brunel intended to build big. . . . The record crossing was twice as fast as that of sailing ships. Henceforth, there were regular steam-powered voyages across the Atlantic." [Furtado: 1001 Days]