Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Catherine "Kate" Shelley was a midwestern United States railroad heroine, and the first woman in the United States to have a bridge named for her. She was also one of the few women to ever have a train named after her, the Kate Shelley 400. Catherine Shelley was born in Loughaun, County Offaly, Ireland. Transcriptions of Irish records show her parents, Michael Shelley and Margaret Dwan, to have been married on February 24, 1863. and Catherine to have been baptized on December 12, 1863.