I first heard about women working for railroads in 1979 and they became my lifelong research project, as little was written about them. These women were doing things I would like—working outdoors, for example. However, in my era (the 1950s and early ’60s) women were denied those male-dominated jobs. Non college-educated women in those years were typically housewives, store clerks, house cleaners, secretaries or cooks. There were no outdoor laboring jobs with better pay open to them. I chose photography as a respite and as a part-time job during my child-rearing years to get out of the house. I also acquired a college degree in the process. Skipping forward a few decades, I was now working outdoors as a professional photographer covering a variety of subjects. In 1978 the California Department of Parks and Recreation hired me to cover the new California State Railroad Museum construction and the restoration of the railroad rolling stock. I soon discovered women working for the railroads and decided to explore that subject in depth with a possible future book in mind. In 1983 I met my future husband, Richard Steinheimer. He was a professional photographer specializing in railroad subjects and I left my employment to travel and photograph with him. Frequently there was an opportunity to photograph and interview railroad women on the job and also time to check local museums’ historical railroad files. Eventually, after producing two traveling exhibits and giving slideshow/lectures, newspapers picked up on what I was doing. The publicity was beneficial as many railroad women wanted to share their stories and photographs. In 1995 after almost 15 years of collecting and photographing women both working and retired, I decided I had enough information to assemble the research into a book with the help of my husband, who was an experienced writer and editor. By 1997-98 we had barely started when my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I became his full-time caregiver until 2011, when he passed away. That put this entire project on indefinite hold. During those years requests for help or information from students, other women and institutions began to come, and I shared a lot of my research and sources, not knowing if the book would ever be completed. At last, however, with the help of editor friends, it is done. This book is a loose collection of tales about the lives of women whose careers connected them to the railroad industry and influenced it. They represent a variety of career paths, from skilled laborers to train operators and in some cases even railroad presidents. Their stories are an inspiration of what women can accomplish when given the opportunity.