Today is the anniversary of the Empire Builder train tornado of 1931.
Around 4:30 that afternoon when The Empire Builder, the transcontinental passenger train that originated in Seattle and was heading toward Chicago, was actually struck by a tornado in Clay county. The train had just left the Fargo station and was near Sabin as severe thunderstorms were moving through the region. The train first experienced heavy rain and gusty wind before the tornado (which has been estimated to be an F3 with wind between 136 and 165 mph) struck it broadside and lifted five of the passenger coaches from the rails.
The tornado carried one of the passenger coaches into the air and dropped it nearly eighty feet from the track. Of the 117 passengers on the train, 57 were injured, with one death reported. Only the locomotive and the coal-tender, the two heaviest cars, remained on the track after the storm.