“I actually love what I do now.” Bridgette Miller, NS Engineer
A Blackstone native is “chugging down the tracks” of history as the first black woman to become an Engineer at Norfolk Southern Railroad’s Crewe station.
Bridgette Renee´ Williams Miller is not only the first black woman — but the first woman of all races — to serve as Engineer in Crewe.
Bridgette previously had become Crewe’s first black Conductor, and now she’s risen to Engineer — the highest level on a train. “My late mother would be so happy and proud to be bragging about her daughter,” she pondered.
Mrs. Miller has been with Norfolk Southern for nine years. Prior to working for the railroad, she served as a Deputy Court Clerk for Petersburg General District Court.
Bridgette says that as a young woman growing-up on Irvin Street, “I never really paid a lot of attention to the railroad…I never really thought about working for the railroad, but I wanted to try it, and I actually love what I do now.”
She was first hired in 2017 as a conductor. Last March, she attended Locomotive Engineer Training, Phase I, in McDonough, GA and completed Phase II last summer. She officially became an Engineer on Aug. 23, 2025.
CELEBRATORY CARICATURE Bridgette Miller used AI to create this portrait
Bridgette, 57, grew-up on Irvin Street in Blackstone and graduated Nottoway High School in 1987. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Criminal Justice (Summa Cum Laude, 2006) and a Master’s degree (Magna Cum Laude) in the same field, both from Virginia State University.
“Being a single mother of four daughters — Dietra Hazelwood of Douglasville, GA, Bianca Booker of Hackensack, NJ), Shakyah Smith and Rashaylàh Booker of Blackstone — I wanted to make sure they had a great role model to look up to,” Bridgette says, “ and my daughters all have done well.”
Bridgette was raised by her mother, Annie Tucker Williams LPN who died in 2021, and her father, Russell Gholson, Jr. of Dinwiddie. She has three brothers — Gerald Williams, Russell Gholson III, and Raphael Williams (who died in 1991).
A day doesn’t go by without Engineer Bridgette Miller thinking of late mom, Annie. “She was excited about me getting this job, and I wish she was here today to see what I have accomplished in nine years.”
Bridgette does have another big member of her fan club — husband Shawn Miller, an Engineer out of Norfolk Southern’s Roanoke office.
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