Vantaggi
Great pay, benefits, people, interesting, never boring. Conductors eventually promote to Engineer. The Trainmen/Engineer extra boards pay a guarantee of over $100k a year. Yard jobs pay less but offer a schedule and days off. Locals are in between, you leave the yard but are usually home every night. Some locals can pay VERY well and are usually reserved for the highest seniority employees.
Svantaggi
Lifestyle, very little time at home, hard for the family. Jobs are based on seniority so your first couple of years are devoted to moving around to places where you can work. The job is somewhat dangerous and you MUST pay full attention when working. It's not a place for daydreaming. Managers seem to be more concerned with firing people rather than helping them.