Christine Gonzalez Aldeis is an American

train engineer A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

. She became the first woman to work as an engineer on a

Class 1 railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

. Aldeis was born and raised in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

where she came from a family that had strong ties to the railroad industry. Her grandmother was a Harvey Girl, her grandfather worked as a Pullman conductor, her father worked as a

train conductor A conductor (North American English) or guard (Commonwealth English) is a train crew member responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve actual operation of the train/locomotive. The ''conductor'' title is most common in Nor ...

and her mother was a secretary to the Santa Fe trainmaster in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

. Her family was supportive of her announcement to become an engineer and she began training as a

hostler A hostler or ostler is a groom or stableman, who is employed in a stable to take care of horses, usually at an inn. In the twentieth century the word came to be used in railroad industry for a type of train driver. Etymology The word is spelled ...

in May of 1973. After graduating from simulator school in

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...

, she then started work as the first woman

for the

Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

system in February of 1974. She was first assigned to

Socorro, New Mexico Socorro (, '' sə-KOR-oh'') is a city in Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is in the Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . In 2010 the population was 9,051. It is the county seat of Socorro County. Socorro is located south of A ...

. Aldeis was featured on the cover of ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...

'' in March of 1975. In 1980, she met Robert Aldeis and they were married and had two children. Aldeis took some time off to be with her children, but returned to the railroad as part of the reserve board. In 1989, she became a volunteer for

Operation Lifesaver Operation Lifesaver is the largest rail safety organization in the United States. It was founded by the Union Pacific Railroad in the early 1970s. History In 1972, the Idaho State Highway Patrol, then-Governor Cecil Andrus and the Union Pacifi ...

. After the

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

merger, Aldeis became a field safety support manager and later the regional manager. In 2012, she retired from BNSF.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Christine American locomotive engineers American railroad pioneers BNSF Railway people Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from El Paso, Texas