In all honesty, I was never one of those kids who harboured a burning ambition to be an engine driver when I grew up, but when Nene Valley Railway (NVR) called and offered me the chance to become one for a day, it somehow felt like the realisation of a childhood dream anyway. Poop poop!

Someone had dropped out of one of NVR's popular driver experience days, providing me with the opportunity to step up to the footplate and learn more about the golden age of steam.

Anyone who's ever been to Wansford Station will know that the staff – the vast majority of whom are volunteers – are an extremely friendly bunch, and before I got started on my tuition I was given a hearty lunch of chicken pie and vegetables to get me set up for the day.

Next up was a short tuition session with another volunteer, Peter, who did a fantastic job – aided by diagrams and a scale model – explaining just how a steam engine works, and ran through some basic health and safety stuff (with temperatures of 1,000 degrees it's important to know these things).

Next, we took a tour of the yard, which allowed me to poke my head in a few redundant boilers and shells of engines to get a better idea of just how they work, before it was time to get on the loco itself.

The engine – an Austerity type – was a beautiful-looking machine, and as I climbed on to the footplate, the first thing I realised was that it was going to be a tight squeeze for myself and Karen, from Lincoln, who was also learning the ropes.

Also aboard were Mark Sherwood and John Scholes, who would be instructing us in what to do. Although the tuition had given me an idea of what did what, the various levers and dials were still a bit of a mystery, and John ran through everything with me again as the train eased gently away from the platform.

As a regular traveller on modern, electric trains, the experience made me realise that I take the relatively smooth journey to work in the mornings for granted. The steam train lurched from side to side as it picked up speed along the bumpy track, but there was something satisfying about the noise, motion and effort that was needed to get the machine moving.

Although the engine was travelling at only about 20 miles per hour, the combination of the open carriage and the cacophony of sounds made it feel like we were travelling much faster.

The usual set-up on a steam train consists of a driver, to operate the levers and keep an eye on the track (there's not too much steering involved), and a fireman, who stokes the fire, but also, crucially, keeps an eye on the water levels and makes sure there's plenty to make sure steam is generated. The train wouldn't go very far without it.

My first job was to take the fireman's role, and I was beyond rubbish.

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More about the Nene Valley Railway - www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/nvr.