WOMEN OF THE RAILS
Herstory Printmaking Collective
The Herstory Printmaking Collective is run by a small group of core members that create collaborative murals and offer public and private workshops with a focus on uplifting the diverse and honorable lives of women. For the Railyard Public Art Project we created a mural of several larger-than-life street-style portraits of women who have contributed to the culture around the Santa Fe Railyards and the Western Rail experience in general. During our research phase through various historical photo archives we came across a variety of persons named and unnamed ; people present in the rail work as well as left behind or perhaps, even further displaced by the establishment of the rail system.The story of progress can also be seen through some eyes, as the story of loss.
The story we are telling begins with the lives lived by women during the establishment of the Santa Fe Rail, but it is also broader. By bringing those in the background of history into the foreground, we hope to paint a fuller picture of the railroads. By focusing on women, we are telling stories that are often ignored. By focusing on workers, we hope to bring greater appreciation for those who did, and continue to do, the hard work of linking our nation by rail. Ideally, through this installation, the audience will see themselves as a piece of the story.
Amy Cao is a Herstory artist and the Collections Manager at The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. Cao made a print based on historical photos of unnamed women and children to highlight the Chinese women’s experience during the railroad construction in Durango, Colorado. From her inspiration and our own research, we understand the role of the Chinese immigrant, freed slaves, and Native, Black, Latinx , and Irish workers in the construction of the railways. Many of them had families they were supporting. Not all of them have received recognition for their gains or sacrifice.
We use a customized technique of making sticky foam relief plates, printed on newsprint with Caligo inks, these and other Rail connected images will be wheat pasted on an outdoor wall of the Railyard Community Center. Wheat pasting installation is a street art form that has been used all over the world to decorate, educate, and in general share information.The Herstory Collective attributes their inspiration with this form to the amazing print makers and wheat paste installation artists of Oaxaca, Mexico.
The mural will be accompanied by text that follows the rail trail from the first image, a Cheyenne woman known colloquially as Owl Women, through a series of later images when women began working side-by-side with men…eventually becoming engineers. Owl Women (Mestaa'ėhehe) is representative of the dual role native women played as guides to as well as caretakers of the land. Owl Woman was known for her understanding of the western trails, many of which became the paths where the rails would be laid. Her position as an indigenous woman was respected and complicated. She was married to a white fur trader. She leveraged this position to be a guide and a voice for peace amidst a world of division. The final image is Christine Gonzalez Aldeis who became the first woman to work as an engineer on a Class 1 railroad, the Santa Fe line. The entire mural follows a decades long connection through a western landscape connected by railway.
Painted by James William Abert c. 1845 https://alchetron.com/Owl-Woman
The Women of the Rails mural “begins” with Mestaa'ėhehe
(pronounced Mes-ta-heh), also known as Owl Woman. She is set in the landscape of modern day Eastern Colorado, once home to many Native American tribes. The Plains Indians that lived in the region included the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Sioux. The Ute people formally ruled all over central and western Colorado, and onto the eastern plains as well. As a Southern Cheyenne woman born around 1810 she was witness to the expansion of the Old Santa Fe Trail and the influx of Europeans and white colonizers, arriving in numbers in covered wagons from the East. She was the eldest daughter of White Thunder (a well-respected Cheyenne tribal leader, known as the 'Keeper of the Arrows') and Tail Woman, sister of Yellow Woman and Island. This gave her special status within the tribe and made her an attractive prospective bride for William Bent, a Santa Fe Trail trader from St. Louis. In the mid-1830s, Owl Woman and Bent were married at Bent’s Fort. Together, they had four children – Mary, Robert, George, and Julia. It was the Cheyenne who advised him to build a fort along the Arkansas River and the Santa Fe Trail near what is now La Junta, CO. Owl Woman significantly benefited Bent and the fort. She provided interpretation and invaluable insight into the customs of the Southern Cheyenne. She is most remembered for her talent and skill as a mediator between Native Americans and white traders and soldiers.Owl Woman died around 1847 likely due to complications of childbirth but her impact as a peacemaker in a world of division is still remembered today. Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, located in Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, was renamed in 2021 to honor her in her own language.We chose to honor Mestaa'ėhehe as the first Woman of the Rails as she and her people witnessed the transformation of land and traditions as the Old Santa Fe Trail became the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. https://www.britannica.com/place/Arkansas-Riverhttps://www.nps.gov/safe/index.htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchison,_Topeka_and_Santa_Fe_Railway#/media/File:BNSF_Map.pnghttps://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/news/mestaahehe-mountain-renaming-squaw-mountain/
Indigenous people and the railroad
The story of the railroad and Indigenous peoplel can be summed up as a bloody land grab by the railroad met by resistance from the Indigenous communities. Before the railroad was built most of the routes from East Coast to West Coast were often based on Indigenous travel paths used and tended over thousands of years. For example, what became known as the Santa Fe Trail crossed through homelands of the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Jicarillo, Kaw Kiowa, Pawnee, and Pueblo people. The Transcontinental Railroad work was begun in the 1860’s. By 1862, The Pacific Railway Act was an example of the US government giving Federal land grants to railroad barons that stretched for dozens of miles on both sides of the railroad tracks. These areas crossed Indigenous farms, hunting grounds and spiritual sites . The US sent troops to protect the railroad companies and their workers. Soldiers and paid hunters began to attack the great buffalo herds. The goal there was to starve the Native people who they were attempting to move on to reservations to gain access to the resources of that land. Also , the buffalo herds were disrupting the speed of the construction crews and train passage with their passengers and piles of grain, building supplies and coal . By the 1880’s only a few hundred buffalo were left. A Kiowa woman described the slaughter by saying “ Sometimes there would be a pile of bones as high as a man, stretching a mile along the railroad track. An example of how the railroad functioned is shown in the example of Santo Domingo, Pueblo. In 1880 when the railroad grading and construction crews reached the eastern boundary of Santo Domingo’s land grant , “ a small army of construction crews drove their way through pastures, farmland, ditches , passed within 200 yards of the village itself, and continued south out of Santo Domingo land with no advance notice, negotiations, lease, permission, purchase or papers.” The railroad established a station just 2 miles from the Pueblo village, and the town of Wallace quickly grew. Pueblo women were assaulted at Wallace and Pueblo people and livestock were killed by trains crossing their land. Settlers at Wallace threatened to invade the village of Santo Domingo and shoot people wholesale . In other examples offering low paying track laying and maintenance jobs in railroad employment was a strategy . The AT & SF and the Pueblo of Laguna brought a significant number of members of the tribe into railroad employment. Known as the Watering of the Flower agreement, this oral compact was entered into in 1880 and remained in force until1963. In exchange for passage across Laguna Pueblo land and the use of water, the railroad promised that it would “ forever employ as many of the Lagunas to help build and maintain the system as wished to work.” Helen Toya, mentioned in the WW2 section was originally recruited at a Laguna festival day event. Her family lived in a community of 50 Native families called Winslow Indian Village. By the late 1950’s only a very limited number of Native male workers in Albuquerque’s shop had been promoted to the shop floor as machinists. Native women worked along the railroad line in the booming towns that were developing in Raton, Las Vegas, Los Lunas, Grants, Gallup, Deming, and Lordburg in supporting jobs. More websites https://www.studentsofhistory.com/Exodusters
The Chinese Women in Durango c.1881-1882
While little is written about the Chinese/ Chinese-American experience in this region of Colorado during the late 19th century, they were indeed here – though, during a time surrounded by exclusionary local and national sentiments. Based on a c.1881-1882 photograph from the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis Collegeʼs archives, this print represents the women who were here, living and raising families despite the anti-Chinese measures that intended to erase or remove them. Itʼs interesting to think of a timeline of what bigger picture things were going on during this period of history... and how people nevertheless existed outside of the written historical record: A Silver World newspaper snippet published January 8, 1881, stated, “Chinamen are not allowed in the town of Durango.” The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad line was built between late summer 1881 and was completed July 1882 – histories of the event vaguely note, almost in passing, that it was constructed by 500 mostly Chinese and Irish workers. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first in a series of legal actions of exclusion that held until the 1940s. Artist, Amy Cao, is the Museum Collections Manager at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College and is always happy to be on the making- side of art for a change. She created this piece at a Herstory workshop sponsored by the Mancos Common Press in 2023
New Immigrants - The Dirty Dozen
Edwina Curlie Justus
“I changed every department that I went in to."
Edwina Justus is the first African American female locomotive engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad. In the 1970’s she was hired at Union Pacific as a Traction Motor Clerk and was one of five black women who worked in the Omaha office. “As a Traction Motor Clerk, Justus monitored the condition of the traction engines and attended a workshop to learn about the locomotive engines. Upon hearing of a new position opening for a train engineer while at the workshop, she readily applied,” (Brumbaugh, 2021).She was selected for the engineering position, which required moving to North Platte, Nebraska. Justus experienced racism and sexism inside and outside the workplace. At the time, North Platte, Nebraska had 22,000+ residents, only 79 of whom were African American. Despite these challenges, Justus remained dedicated to her locomotive engineering position, and acquired increasing responsibilities over the duration of her career with the railroad. She is now retired and still lives in Nebraska.
https://www.knopnews2.com/2021/04/19/first-black-woman-union-pacific-locomotive-engineer/***https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zymr2_RdsCYBio at BlackPast.orghttps://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/edwina-curlie-justus-1943/
New Immigrants - The Dirty Dozen Much has been written about the life of new European immigrants arriving in New York and their lives in industries booming in the East Coast cities. Many families ; however, made a fast dash West and became a large part of railroad history. Although just arriving in these budding towns, they were given the jobs of highest pay in railroad shops. Once in these positions, they were able to ensure the hiring of their brothers, uncles, nephews , and sons During the two world wars, many of the daughters of these Irish, Italian, Polish, and Swiss families also found better paying work with companies like Northern Pacific Railroad. In Livingston, Montana, many women were hired as office workers. Additionally , two dozen women took jobs as engine wipers and yard workers. Natalina Indendi became one of what was called "the dirty dozen " who wiped down engines, greased the wheels, and operated the turntables in the roudhouses. Another woman who became part of railroad's story was Bertha Grimm Gonder. She was a widow with nine children. When her husband died, she moved her entire family from Kentucky to Montana . In 1918 she became one of the first female employees of Northern Pacific Railroad working as an engine wiper, turntable operator ,and hostler. She was able to buy a house, and many of her sons also joined railroad work. In her 30 years of service she was never promoted. Other members of this hardworking crew are remembered using their married names only. A photo caption reports "Ten of the dirty dozen - Bertha Gonder, Mrs. Joe Mucarella, Miss Rogers, unknown, Mary Smith, Miss Boucher, Helen McCullough, Mrs. Frank Tesso, Viola Cole, Miss Lewis. ( photo courtesy of Whithorn Collection, Yellowstone Gateway Museum)
Black Women Rail yard Workers of Clovis
This part of the mural is inspired by the AT and Santa Fe African American rail yard women workers employed to clean out the potash jars in the rail yard in Clovis, New Mexico. Almeda Williams, Beatrice Davis, Liza Goss and Abbie Caldwell were photographed in the 1950's by Jack Delano. This photo seems to shout the self confidence and solidarity these women might have felt that day in the longtime train town of Clovis. Although their wages and benefits were higher than other employers nearby, the work was challenging and also toxic to their long term health. These railroad jobs helped to build the town of Clovis and the Black community there. Today the percentage of Black people in Clovis is still much higher than in most parts of New Mexico because of those railroad jobs. The story of Black railroad workers in general, however, is one of extreme discrimination. In the early years of the railroad, most of the Black workers were limited to men grading the land in preparation for the tracks or for preparing the land for construction of the buildings. From 1910 to 1950 those few Black workers ,men and women ,who did get rail yard or repair shop jobs were at the lowest job classifications and pay. Although their skill level and training increased over the decades, they were not promoted. In a most extreme example, in the Memphis District of the Illinois Central Railroad, Black trainmen and brakemen were getting shot off of the backs of trains by their white co-workers in a wave of assassinations. The perpetrators were never brought to justice.
1. Liza Goss and Abbie Caldwell
These Black women workers cleaned potash cans in the rail yard in Clovis, New Mexico in the 1950’s . They underscore the relationship of the mining industry using the nearby railroad to transport their toxic cargo to market.
2. Celia Morelos Pain
This woman was one of the many Rosie the Riveter women of the Southwest who worked in Winslow, Arizona at the Rail yards and on the shop floor during WW2.
3. Harris -Simmons Hotel
Allie Harris and her sister Ruby Simmons owned a 21 room hotel in Clovis, New Mexico. These Black sisters worked all day as maids , and at night rented out the 10 upper rooms in their house. This image is a tribute to the many women who worked in supporting roles to the railroad. The Harvey House workers ,the laundry workers , the restaurant cooks , the nurses , and so many others are part of the story of women of the rails in theSouthwest.
4. Bertha Grimm Gonder
This shovel is a tribute to Bertha Grimm Gonder and the other European immigrant women named The DirtyDozen. In 1918 she became one of the first female employees of Northern Pacific Railroad working as an engine wiper, turntable operator ,and hostler in Montana.
Pullman Porters and Maids
The largest employer of Black workers in the US in the 1920's and 1930's was the Pullman Company. The story of the Pullman porters and the women who worked as maids on the train is another big part of railroad history. The Pullman porters and maids became an inspiring story of worker's rights organizing. The women who worked as maids were also responsible for childcare, eldercare, hairdressing, seamstress needs, medical assistance and much more. The job involved long travel hours away from home with often no other women workers to interact with. Some of the women who worked as maids or who were family members of porters became a big part of the fight to form the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids ( BSCP) in 1925. Some women like Josephine Puckett, Ada V. Dillon, Tinie Upton , Frances Albrier, Rosina Bud Harvey Corrothers Tucker, Halina Wilson, Frances Mary Jackson Albrier are being tributed in this section of the mural as well. One Women's Auxiliary porter's wife Lucy Bledsoe Gilmore became a well known lifelong activist. She said in a rally speech " I am like a rubber ball; the harder you throw me, the higher I bounce."
Harris- Simmons Hotel, Clovis, New Mexico
Other women along the railroad line opened a variety of supporting businesses. Allie Harris and her sister Ruby Simmons purchased a 21 room hotel in 1924 in Clovis, NM and named it the Harris- Simmons Hotel .It is possible that these two Black women business owners focused on Black customers and were perhaps listed in the Green Book guide to New Mexico .. Lettia Parsons Butler, another Black woman, along with her husband opened their hotel in Santa Fe. Edith C Butler, a Black chef, opened a catering business in Albuquerque in the early 1900’s serving the new wealthy railroad community. The Harris- Simmons Hotel section of the mural is a tribute to these two sisters; however, the more known story is ,of course, about the Harvey Hotels and the Harvey Girls. Thousands of women came from all over the US to work in the Harvey House hotels. These jobs created a financial independence for many women - most of whom had never worked before. At the same time, there was enormous discrimination in the hiring of white women for these front of the house jobs. Throughout the years of the Harvey Houses, many women of color worked as maids, cooks, laundress, and other support roles for these massive buildings. In the Southwest , especially during the war years, there were Hispanic, Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo women who worked as front of the house Harvey Girls. Lucy Delgadillo More was an example. Marion Dale Lucero left the Hopi land at 17 . In 1949, she started as a dishwasher. She was promoted to a Harvey Girl position. Olive Monongye, a Hopi woman worked as a Harvey Girl for 30 years. Hilda Velarde Salas worked from 1939 to 1945.
Silvia Augusta Duckens
August 11, 1953-November 26, 2021
Silvia Augusta Duckens, the tenth of twelve children, born on August 11, 1953, to Deacon Sylvester Duckens, Sr. and Mrs. Willie Odessa Duckens, in Temple, Texas. Silvia accepted Jesus Christ in her early years of life, at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Temple, Texas, under the pastoral leadership of the late Rev. C. S. Williamson.Her grade school education was obtained in Temple, where she graduated from Temple High School in 1971. She attended college at Mary Hardin Baylor College in Belton, Texas, where she culminated her education in 1975, graduating as an honor student, with a 3.3 GPA, procuring a double major in Psychology and Sociology.Her first job after graduating from college was most noteworthy, in that Silvia is honored and recognized in Who’s Who in America as the first African American female engineer to drive a train for Santa Fe Railroad; one of the nation’s largest railroads. Upon completion of training at Santa Fe’s Simulator Engineering Training School in Topeka, Kansas, she drove a $500,000.00 diesel locomotive, which pulled 2,000 tons of chemicals, textiles, machinery and agricultural products. Silvia was also featured in Ebony Magazine, in March 1977, for this historical milestone of an accomplishment. Silvia’s work history also includes employment as a fireman and a U. S. Postal Service employee, amongst other jobs.But her most cherished job (as evidenced by her enormous love for children) was Director of Head Start in Dallas, Texas. She adored working with children; providing them with extra tender loving care as often as she could. Silvia’s passion for children led her to become a temporary foster parent, at a certain period.Silvia Duckens’ zeal for life fueled her love of travel and exploration of new horizons. Thus, she became an active member of several churches throughout her lifetime. She was a member of: Munger Avenue Baptist Church in Dallas, TX.; Mt. Hebron Missionary Baptist Church in Garland, TX.; Rock of Faith Baptist Church in Columbus, OH. and Heavenly Star Baptist Church in Houston, TX. As a fervent music lover; one who possessed an eloquent, melodic voice, she participated in church choirs, as well as was an organist for various churches, either on a full-time or part time basis. In all aspects of her Christian service, she was very devoted and dedicated to all her church endeavors.Silvia is preceded in death by her parents; Deacon Sylvester Duckens, Sr. and Mrs. Willie O. Duckens. Several siblings also preceded her in passing; Johnny Ray Duckens, Mattie J. Duckens–Browne, Eddy Jewel Duckens, Mary Alice Duckens-Rodriguez, Dr. Sylvester Duckens, Jr., and Clayborn “Tiny” Duckens, as well as a dear sister-in-love, JoAnn Diggs Duckens.Those left to cherish her memories are her remaining siblings: Joyce Marie Duckens, Rev. Dorceal Duckens, Elenor L. Duckens, Roy Duckens, and Rev. Bob H. Duckens; her sisters-in-love: Barbara Robertson Duckens and Essie Tolliver Duckens, as well as one brother-in-love: Victor Rodriguez. In addition, one paternal uncle, Albert Blair, mourns her earthly demise, along with many nieces, nephews and cousins, including numerous supplemental family members and a myriad of friends.Obituary: https://www.troybsmith.com/obituary/silvia-duckens
Bonnie Leake
- First Women Engineer on the UP Rails, 1974 -
Single Mom
In 1974, Bonnie Leake became the first woman to join the Union Pacific Railroad to train as a locomotive engineer. Leake had first joined the railroad in 1966 as an office clerk and later served as a crew dispatcher. She had her sights set higher, though, to become a locomotive engineer. “I saw how much money the men made, and I knew I could handle the job,” Leake said in a 2017 Inside Track article. In 1974, after training for six months and meeting the physical requirements (as well as tolerating intense scrutiny), Leake accomplished her dream of becoming an engineer, running trains from Las Vegas to Milford, Utah, and Yermo, California. She accomplished this all before the age of 30. As a single mother who raised a daughter also named Bonnie — if you have the right attitude and are ambitious, you can do any job well and make a good wage. As a veteran engineer with a salary primarily based on miles traveled rather than hours worked, Leake eventually earned between $50,000 and $100,000 annually.When she retired in 2007, Leake had served on the railroad for nearly 40During Leake’s first decade on the job, she mostly ate meals alone as many male in her crews wouldn’t socialize with her. “There’s always a few guys who think you can’t do the job because you’re a woman, and if you do the job well, it’s because you were lucky,” she says. “But I didn’t need a pal or to be a chum on the job, I just wanted to do the job and get paid.”“You can make a man’s wage in a man’s world,” says Leake. “There’s no glass ceiling in the railroad.” years. “If you think of yourself as equal, you’ll eventually be treated that way,” she said.In January 2021 Leake passed away at the age of 76.https://www.progressiverailroading.com/people/article/UPs-Bonnie-Leake-Hitting-The-Brakes--13377https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/first-female-engineers-05-05-2017
Bonnie Leake, left, and Edwina Justus meet for the first time at the Union Pacific’s Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, exhibit titled “Move Over, Sir: Women Working on the Railroad, 2017.
Rosie the Riveters
This section of the print is inspired by the photo of Chicana Railroad workers in Winslow, Arizona. During WW1 and also during WW2, many women joined a variety of jobs in the railroad on an emergency and temporary categorization. In the inspiration photo is Celia Morelos Pain, Brijida Vasques, Rebeca Andrade, Ramona Heran Robles, Lily Valenzuela Liu, Juana Luja. Between 1942–1944 trains carried 98% of military personnel and more than 90% of freight for the military. For example, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1942 had 600 women employees and in 1945 there were 3,500 women on the payroll ! This heyday of Rosie the Riveter women is especially shocking in comparison to the participation of women more recently, especially in the higher paying trade jobs . As of 2014 only 1.4 % of the 55,000 locomotive engineers and operators employed were women ! Another Winslow , Arizona railroad worker was Helen Toya. Ms. Toya was a native of Seama Village at Laguna Pueblo and a grandmother of Deb Haaland ! She began cleaning locomotives before in the 1920’s and later cleaned troop cars in WW2. She became the foreman of the car cleaners, working the graveyard shift midnight to 8:00 AM. The family lived in a home made of two connected railcars in a nearby community of 50 Native families with railroad jobs. Surprisingly, Albuquerque's Locomotive Repair Shop did not see a large influx of women workers during the second war. In fact, in 1943 there were only 11 women working of which only 2 had jobs on the shop floor out of 48 male employees. One of those was a machinist helper named Elisha H. Baker.
https://preservetucson.org/stories/tucson-steps-up-in-a-crisis-world-war-ii-and-the-homefront
Christina Gonzales, First Women to Engineer on Santa Fe Rail, 1970
El Paso native Christine Gonzalez gained nationwide fame in the 1970s as the first woman in the United States to become an engineer for a Class 1 railroad. Gonzalez – now Christine Aldeis – began her career at age 20 in 1973 with Santa Fe Railroads, she recalled Tuesday at the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, where she spoke about her pioneering work.Her lecture was part of the museum’s monthlong celebration of women who have made significant contributions to the railroad industry.Three years later, in 1975, her career achievements landed her on the cover of Redbook magazine. She also began making television appearances. Then, to her astonishment, she began receiving fan mail, and an image of her face was featured on the back of an ash tray.“It was a new frontier for women,” she said to a group of more than 50 people. “It was my turn to help move the nation.”Aldeis’ railroad career spanned four decades, she said. But she admitted the work she did was not as glamorous as it appeared on TV or in glossy magazines.She recalled working back-breaking 12-hours days, seven days a week, along the railroad from El Paso to Albuquerque. She first worked as an engine hostler — an engineer who moves locomotives in and out of service facilities — then she learned how to operate a locomotive.At times, though, she said she felt lonely in the male-dominated industry. But, she said, the men largely treated her with respect, something she attributes to her family roots in the railroad industry. She said she was the fourth generation in her family to have a railroad career.In 1973, 19-year-old Christene Gonzales’ mother planted the seed of going to work for the railroad as a locomotive engineer. Gonzales thought, “What the heck!” She applied, interviewed and was hired.Unbeknownst to her, Gonzales was about to become the first female locomotive engineer for the Santa Fe Railway.Over the years, she developed a passion for railroad safety. She was and is a staunch believer in railroad education. Operation Lifesaver Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the elimination of railroad-related collisions and fatalities through education and awareness, was just the place to expand her horizons once more.Then in 1997, Gonzales (now Aldeis) applied for and became a field safety support manager at the newly merged BNSF. She was later promoted to regional manager, Field Safety Support. She also presented Operation Lifesaver workshops to law enforcement agencies, emergency responders and other organizations.The career path she chose was often the road less traveled. Through hard work and determination, she is proud to say she worked for the railroad in one fashion or another for over 35 yearshttps://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/2017/03/14/us-first-woman-train-engineer-speaks-las-cruces/99192054/https://bnsfnorthwest.com/news/2017/03/28/first-female-engineer-atsf-reflects-road-less-traveled/
SONGS OF WOMEN AND RAILS
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/24Sd9boKyGwNKypSZcHpub?si=Z1jIFe3ETbq0a8z2JGO9qA&pi=u-ZqsEPqwnT3ug
Polly Ann’s Hammer, Our native Daughters
Railroad, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn
Believe In You, Dolly Pardon
Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe, Judy Garland
Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe, (Harvey Girls Soundtrack)
Train Sounds
Something About Trains Jane Siberry
Hear My Train A Comin’ Jimi Hendrixhttps
Working on the Railroad Ella Jenkins
Railroad Bela Fleckhttps
Acheson, Topeka and Santa Fe railway Company’s Indian Band