If you are interested in the railroad life, here is a book you should read: “Set Up Running” by John W Orr. It is the story of the life of his father, Oscar P. Orr, who spent 45 years (1905 - 1949) as an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He ran every class of engine on PRR’s roster except for the C1 0-8-0, G5 4-6-0 and the Duplexes. He disliked the 2-10-0’s (slow, rough and dirty) loved the 2-8-2’s (just the opposite of the Decapods) and thought the K4 was the best of all. He tells of tricks of how to fire an engine; using his Decapod as a snowplow; running so fast he scared his conductor and dozens of other tales. There is a great story about running a fast freight through a work zone where one of the rails was up on jacks. That one was a dispatcher’s foulup that could have killed him and a whole work crew as well.
Of course there is too much to relate here, but if it sounds interesting you can get the book from the Pennsylvania State university Press. I liked it so much I read it twice!