CLEVELAND, July 15 — Two members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen were killed on July 14 when their Iowa, Chicago & Eastern (IC&E) freight train collided with a group of stationary cars in Bettendorf, Ill.
Both were members of BLET Division 266 in Savanna, Ill.
Andrew R. Reed, 27, was working as a conductor at the time of the fatality. The engineer, also 27, is not being identified to honor the wishes of his family.
Andrew Reed“They were two of the best workers we had on the entire railroad,” said Todd Poffenberger, Secretary-Treasurer of Division 266. “We lost two good ones.”
Brother Poffenberger said he was very close with Andrew, who helped him get a job at the railroad. He said the Division is in mourning and that he has spoken very little with the Division President and Local Chairman because they are so distraught over the tragedy.
He said Brother Reed and his significant other, Jamie Diercks, recently bought a house together. The couple celebrated their baby’s first birthday just this past weekend.
The engineer is survived by his significant other and their two-year-old child.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident. According to a July 15 statement from the NTSB, the train “struck a group of cars in a rail yard after crossing through a switch that was not lined for the main line.”
Reed began working for the railroad in August of 2004 and first joined the Brotherhood on December 1, 2004. The IC&E was a non-union property prior to the BLET’s certification in December of 2002.
According to the Quad City Times newspaper, Reed was a 2000 graduate of Savanna High School and attended Hamilton Technical School in Davenport and Highland Community College in Freeport, Ill. Reed, who was known by his friends as Reed-o” and “Sweet-Meat,” enjoyed playing sports and boating on the Mississippi River. He is survived by his fiancee, Jamie Diercks, their daughter, Brynn, and her daughter, Delaney Holmes of Savanna. His mother is Ramona Coffey of Argyle, Wis., and his father, Richard “Dick” Reed of Moline.
Brother Poffenberger said the Division will establish a memorial fund to help the young families through this difficult time. Further information on this fund will be made available shortly.
A visitation for Brother Reed is scheduled for 4 p.m.-8 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (318 Chicago Ave., Savanna, IL 61074; (815) 273-3961) on Friday, July 17. The funeral is schedule for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 18, at the same location.