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| Two men were killed Tuesday when a Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad freight train ran into a group of stationary cars. About a dozen cars, including two locomotives, derailed at 2:10 a.m., the train had 83 cars. |
Andrew Reed, 27, of Savanna, Ill., the conductor of the train, was killed, along with the engineer, the only crew on board. Reed had worked for the railroad since August 2004. |
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| The lead unit struck the frist loaded covered hopper of a string of 19. The first hopper lost it's truck (seen in the foreground) and sheared off the body and prime mover off the frame of the Geep. The hopper can been seen here on the right of the photo, lying on it's side. |
The train struck a group of cars in a rail yard after crossing through a switch that was not lined for the main line. It was switched to the siding, and was not switched back. |
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| Most of the derailed cars were empty and there was no hazardous spills, although crews did contain a small diesel leak from one of the engines. |
GP40s DME 4001 (2nd unit) and 4003 (lead unit) on local 914 plowed into a cut of parked cars at the BNSF interchange. |
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| 4003 was the one essentially leveled to the frame, seen above just beyond the vehicle. . |
GP40 4001 (on the left) has been repaired and is back on duty. |
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| The northbound BNSF freight train from Barstow, Ill. (lead blue/yellow unit seen behind the derailed tank cars), had arrived at the Bettendorf Yard about 12:15 a.m. to deliver 55 freight cars. |
After placing 18 freight cars on track 2 and 19 freight cars on track 3 in the west side of Bettendorf Yard. The BNSF train crew pulled back onto the main track and moved their locomotives and 18 remaining freight cars into a siding on the east side of the main track |
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| The BNSF train crew left both the switch from the main track to the west side of the yard, and the switch to the siding track on the east side of the yard, in the open position (aligned away from the main track). |
The BNSF train crew then released its track authority to the DME train dispatcher by radio. Following that, the dispatcher gave the authority (by radio) to the DME train to use the main track to travel from Bettendorf to Nahant, Iowa. |
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The southbound DME train, which had been stopped outside the Bettendorf Yard, then moved forward on the main track at the track speed limit of 25 mph. The switch from the main track to the east siding was realigned by remote signal activation by the DME train crew in order for the DME train to pass through on the main track.
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The switch from the main track to the west Bettendorf Yard was a manual switch only, however, and it remained open to the west side yard tracks. The open switch from the main track into the west side yard diverted the southbound DME train to where it struck the rail cars that were on track 3 in Bettendorf Yard. |
