At Coaley Junction in Gloucestershire, the mail train froze and a fire had to be lit underneath it to defrost parts of the engine.

BBC: How different is the winter of 2010 from 1963?

On Dec. 14, while he was riding Amtrak's Acela train from New York to Washington, he opened an e-mail that detailed problems in the auction-rate markets, which were seizing up because of the blossoming credit crisis.

FORBES: Legal