A RECORDS assistant who discovered railway pioneer George Stephenson’s plans for the world’s first passenger railway said he “almost fell to the floor” when he found the document.

John Page, who has been working at Network Rail’s archives in Clifton Moor for nine years, uncovered the notebook when he was searching for another document among 20,000 records.

John said: “I’m quite an inquisitive person, I like to have a look through and that’s how this was found. As soon as I saw that name it was amazing, because we don’t have much Stephenson stuff as it’s very early on.

“To have the actual report that he wrote, which started the whole thing off - I almost fell to the floor when I found it. It was spectacular.”

In the notebook, dated 1822, Stephenson argues the case for steam locomotives to be used on the line rather than the original plans for horses and wagons. John added that the report may have been transcribed by Stephenson’s son, Robert Stephenson, who designed the Rocket, as George Stephenson was illiterate up to the age of 18.

The document also contains Stephenson’s calculations showing that his design would make more of a profit and save £11,000 on the plans.

“Things like this are not only the history of the railway, it’s British history,” John said. “I love history, it’s a wonderful thing. This is a first hand account signed by the man himself. With these ink drawings it’s a real personal connection, it’s an intimate object, you’re getting a connection with that person.”

John said he loves his job and added that he has also discovered documents written by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

He said: “We have a lot of correspondence which isn’t important to the running of the railways but me being me, I like to look through it.

“You can’t read anything Brunel has written, his handwriting’s awful. But his signature is very unique.

“There is always that possibility we will find something that we haven’t seen before.”

Stephenson’s notebook is on display at the National Railway Museum until December 28.