Congratulations NegativeX that's a very solid and interesting job you've landed! My Dad was a brakeman for the railroad for many years before an injury put him out of commission.
Maybe someday we'll get trains in 7DTD and you can take us down the tracks so we can leap out of the cars a' la Divergent style haha.
Bummer to hear that about your dad. ;\ We actually go over accident reports daily and railroading is definitely a job that you have to constantly have your situational awareness about ya... one small lapse in concentration and that's it. And even then, there's just unforeseen accidents that happen, like rail breakage.
We're actually starting out doing on the job training as Brakemen/Switchmen for the first few weeks, then onto Conductor training shortly after.