This is what I'm saying though, when you look at the perks of the railway its hard to walk away from.
In regards to lorry driving there is some good jobs out there but they are extremely difficult to get into, got a mate at Royal mail who loves it, doesn't do many more hours then on the railway and is on similar pay, extremely unionised, set routes.
Also only does monday- Friday with an occasional weekend, no nights unless he wants them and bumps his pay up a fair whack.
I wouldn't leave to just drive a lorry anywhere, it would have to be similar pay and some firms are paying the same if not more then train drivers, obviously the pay dispute may have something to do with that but it just shows other jobs are catching up with the railway.
Things like heavy haulage can pay very well and I would think working for someone like allelys or someone specialised like that would be a really interesting job.
Yes you'll do some long hours on them no doubt but I would think the job satisfaction would be higher, swings and roundabouts I guess.
There's definitely life beyond the railway but I think the railway has the benefit of high pay vs low hours , not going to be many jobs out there that compare on that.
The pilot thing is interesting as again its a different area with different requirements, no doubt you'll do some long hours especially on long haul and the starting pay is relatively low, add to that some of these schemes are self funded (easyjet) so can be a big output of cash.
Depends what you want i guess.
If you can stick with it and work your way up to captain quickly then the financial gain is massive but there are some big commitments and sacrifices you need to make on the way.
I don't hate driving trains but I don't come home getting any satisfaction from it now either.
Just need to be careful with what steps to take next.
Always looking for that next opportunity be it on the railway or elsewhere.