Christine Gonzalez Aldeis (born 1952/1953) [1] is an American train engineer. She became the first woman to work as an engineer on a Class 1 railroad. [2]
Aldeis was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, where she came from a family that had strong ties to the railroad industry. [3] Her grandmother was a Harvey Girl, her grandfather worked as a Pullman conductor, her father worked as a train conductor and her mother was a secretary to the Santa Fe trainmaster in El Paso. [4] [5] Her family was supportive of her announcement to become an engineer and she began training as a hostler in May of 1973. [1] [3] After graduating from simulator school in Topeka, she then started work as the first woman train engineer for the Santa Fe Railway system in February of 1974. [1] [5] She was first assigned to Socorro, New Mexico. [3] Aldeis was featured on the cover of Redbook in March of 1975. [6] In 1980, she met Robert Aldeis and they were married and had two children. [3] Aldeis took some time off to be with her children, but returned to the railroad as part of the reserve board. [1] In 1989, she became a volunteer for Operation Lifesaver. [3] After the BNSF merger, Aldeis became a field safety support manager and later the regional manager. [3] In 2012, she retired from BNSF. [3]