Vantaggi
High pay with no degree, just pass a drug test. Health insurance is great (but they are trying to change that, and prescription coverage sucks).
Svantaggi
Work life balance? Not even close. They pay you so they own you. Plenty of good individuals in management, but horrible system has evolved that does not treat people as people. Doesn't matter if you work six days a week, live in a hotel, and have doctor's notes for all absences, miss 11 days in a year and you are fired. All poor decisions regarding service eventually trickle down to the conductor, who has no time to fix it and is busy focusing on safety, making the actual work more stressful than it should be (at least if you care about the passengers who are suffering due to poor decisions made high above you).