The workshop is now all remains of the Great Western Railway

The trust that restores steam trains using the original equipment could be forced out of its workshop to make way for more shops.

The Wiltshire workshop is all remains of the Great Western Railway (GWR) works but the owners of the nearby Designer Outlet Village want to turn the workshop into retail space.

There are no guarantees they will let the engineers stay on the site.

Steve Atkins of the GWR Heritage Trust took over the workshop three years ago.

Steve Atkins fears Swindon's railway heritage may soon end

He has debts of nearly �90,000 and faces industrial tribunals from his disgruntled staff.

He said hurdles kept getting in the way of making the company successful.

"We always seem to be close but never close enough," he said.

"I do have personal finance involved in the project so at the moment there's no way of getting out, so I'll have to stick with it."

The company has also been evicted from running part of the workshop in the steam museum for not paying rent.

Mr Atkins said he feared 160 years of railway engineering in Swindon could end within weeks.