Between 1890 and 1917, two hundred thirty thousand (230,000) railroad workers were killed. As far as I can tell all were men.  In 1920 there were 2, 000, 000 railroad workers in the USA.  One of the most dangerous jobs was "brakeman."  Each car had to be stopped manually and it was the brakeman's job to stop four or five cars.  The brakeman walked on top of the RR cars and turned a wheel, putting the brakes "on" for each car.  It was not unheard of for a brakeman to be thrown from the top of a RR car.

Source:  "Freight Trains," Modern Marvels, The History Channel, first aired 2006