International Women's Day - 8/3/23

[O L Leigh]

Bit surprised that no-one else has mentioned this yet, so let me be the first to acknowledge that today is International Women's Day and raise a cheer for all the wonderful ladies who do stalwart work for us all on the railways. It is perhaps appropriate to give a tip of the hat to Karen Harrison who overcame prejudice based on her gender and pushed forward to become Britain's first female train driver.

Karen Harrison (16 November 1960 – May 2011) was the first woman in Britain to be appointed as a train driver,[1] during which time she was an active trade unionist and political campaigner.

Karen Harrison on Wikipedia

 

[Magdalia]

The East Lancashire Railway marked International Women's Day by operating Flying Scotsman with an all women crew. More details are in the BBC website story here:

International Women's Day: Flying Scotsman staffed by all female crew

The world famous steam train was operated entirely by women to mark International Women's Day.

www.bbc.co.uk

"One of the world's most famous steam trains, the Flying Scotsman, has been driven by an all female crew on the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) to mark International Women's Day.
It was crewed entirely by a female footplate team made up of ELR volunteers and a Network Rail driver.
The event celebrated the role of women in rail and aimed to encourage more women into engineering careers."