Pros
Hey, it's super cool, I drive a locomotive! I have an active job that allows me to stay in good physical shape. When I get home at night I feel like I've accomplished something with these two hands.
Cons
I'm gonna be blunt, two words, Lead men. Leadmen are not supervised by site manager. They do whatever they want...which is usually nothing. Fortunately we have a good leadman on our shift. We told him it wasn't cool to just sit in the truck and do nothing while we were busting our butts. Ever since then he has spent the entire shift outside his leadman duties helping load on the rack. He also agrees that it is bull crap that leadmen have a lot on their plate, that on the worst of shifts it only takes 4hrs to complete leadmen duties. This right here is the main reason why loaders quit(overworked while a leadman just sits and watches) constantly makes you feel like the company doesn't care about it's foot soldiers