WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE? - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 106

passengers are just as likely to find that their attendant is a white
woman—or any other person, for that matter.
This enlightened attitude also extends to giving women an
opportunity to work in other railroad jobs that were traditionally
the exclusive province of men. Women are now serving in every
capacity on both freight and passenger trains, including in the
head end. For traditionalists, not to mention sexists, that change
has taken some getting used to. My brother Pete was on a short-
haul trip in the Midwest a number of years ago when a rail fan,
seated across the aisle from him, turned on his scanner to listen
in on chatter among the crew. The man suddenly sat bolt upright
in his seat and blurted to everyone within a 20-foot radius, “Holy
crap! The engineer's a girl!”
Like Snowflakes, No Two Railroad Jobs Are Alike
First, you should know that a distinction is made between oper-
ating crew (the engineers and the conductors) and service crew
(everyone else working onboard). As those terms imply, the oper-
ating crew is responsible for actually running the train, while the
service crew looks after the needs of passengers. There is another
significant difference: the service crew usually stays with the train
for the entire trip, while the engineers and conductors, who are
restricted by federal law to working no more than 12 hours in a
row, are replaced at regular intervals along the way.
Most Amtrak crews tend to become quite close and treat
each other like family. For instance, train attendants will switch
off, with one looking after two cars through a couple of stops
while the other takes a meal break. If one of the dining-car crew
becomes ill, it's not unusual for one of the train attendants to
pitch in and help out. Once, while I was traveling eastbound on
the Southwest Chief, our train slowed to a stop when we met our