I flew with a former train conductor the other day.
Saab regional, MSP airline that's been southerned now, furlough, back to Saab regional, then off to drive trains for a while, now a direct entry captain.
Says it was fun for a while, then some story about their labor contract handed back to them as no longer applicable dulled the joy, plus it is still a lot of time on the road, shorter stretches of time at home, very limited geography-wise by the max duty periods.
Point being, he's back flying.