USA: Playing their part: A Mechanical Helper on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. FASCINATING photos from the Second World War show how invaluable women were to the United States??? war effort ??" with millions of women picking up the jobs their partners, brothers, sons and fathers had left behind to fight for their country. Remarkable shots, many of them never published before, show industrious women employed as shipbuilders, railroad staff, and steel workers. Another remarkable shot shows a female labourer donning a plastic bra, a device which purported to help prevent chest-related accidents in the workplace. Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain