“Some people become train drivers to earn £87,000 – I do it because I like working alone.”

And it’s not a Monday to Friday job. Our trains run 364 days a year. The only guaranteed day off is Christmas Day. My shifts are nine hours long, but if there are disruptions I could work 12. I’m paid at the top end of the industry pay scale – although not at the top end of £87,000 – and I’m grateful for that salary.

A typical day starts with me arriving at the depot and reading my information packs, which tell me if there are any speed restrictions or problems on my route. I then take a “Sheila card” with me, which has my chart for the day on it, showing which stations I’m stopping at, when I’m supposed to stop there and which is the turnaround station.

Then I check my train and set up the environment in the driver’s cab – adjust the heating, put the seat in the right position, tell the signalman that my train is ready, check the cameras and wait for the signal. Then my journey begins.

Fortunately, I have never had a fatal accident. Unfortunately, the risk of travelling by rail is well known and we are all aware that it can happen to any of us. I had a moment when my heart was in my throat.

Someone jumped off a platform to get his phone and then jumped back up. I had just passed my signal on the way into the station, my brake was on when the guy jumped off. I put my train in “emergency mode” and when he jumped back up, I took my train out of “emergency mode.”

I walked into the station, opened the doors and contacted the signalman saying, “I need a minute.” I was shaken and had to ask twice if I was OK. All I could think was, was this worth a cell phone?

I love the work-life balance of the job. In my previous role, I was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Now I switch off and go home. You can’t drive a train from your living room. There’s a real separation now between my work and my personal life.

I would recommend this career to anyone. I told my children to become train drivers.

The worst thing about my job is the public perception. When there are disruptions to service, I give passengers all the information I have, but often they think I’m not telling them. When I’m then asked to run somewhere quickly and miss stops, passengers can get really frustrated.