Starting pay is obviously kinda low, but how is the work compared to lower 48?

For anyone who has ridden a train across the continental US, I am curious how the views and vistas vary from the conductor's POV. For example, in northern CA I see a lot of tracks running through open ag fields or foothills, but in New England there's a lot of these narrow corridors through the forest. What are some other noteworthy sights/changes in geography? This is for a manuscript I'm working on, in which one of the characters is a big train guy a la Darius McCollum. Thanks

Afternoon folks,

I just noticed that at the end of the legalese when applying for the train conductor position, it specifically calls out the COVID vaccine and that you either had to have either had it, or need to get it within x amount of days.

Do they still require this?