Pros
Money is good right off the bat ($80,000-$100,000 starting wage with no college/university education) Exciting work Outside most of the time (could be good or bad) Get lots of exercise Great workforce (employees are generally really good people) Get to travel
Cons
Work/Life balance (in the current structure this is nearly non existent) Incredibly poisonous work environment Fear driven work environment Total and complete disregard for employee safety (forced to go on trains when you've informed them you have been up for over 24 hours and are too tired to go, forced to take trains that are too heavy for your locomotives over unfamiliar territory etc.) Very aggressive management (who will threaten/scream/insult/use every profane word in the book to get what they want out of you. This is a daily occurrence) Inexperienced management Go to work exhausted often (if you don't you are threatened with discipline/termination) Spend days away from home (1-2 max) No schedule/On call work (could be like that for entirety of career) New employee retention rate (I believe it sits at about 10%)