The Wreck of Old 97 occurred when the engineer, 33-year-old Joseph A. ("Steve") Broady, at the controls of Southern Railway 1102, or the "Fast Mail", was operating the train at high speed in order to stay on schedule and arrive at Spencer on time. The "Fast Mail" had a reputation for never being late. Locomotive 1102, a ten-wheeler 4-6-0 engine built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, had rolled out of the factory in early 1903, less than a year before the wreck.