January 23rd

" On what was generally described as the coldest night of the winter, the
British Insurance Association estimated that already the weather had cost
more than £5M in claims.  Two hundred London buses were put out of action
when their fuel froze.  Two more people died from the cold.  The Mancunian
express took nearly ten hours to get from Euston to  Manchester- a journey
it generally completes in just over three and a half hours"

24th January 1963

"There was more chaos on the railways as diesel fuel, coal, points and water
troughs froze.  Passengers travelling in one train from St.Pancras to
Manchester took only ten minutes short of twelve hours to cover the 189
miles.  They were lucky.  Many trains didn't run at all.  Fifty families
were evacuated from a block of flats in Streatham because they were too hot;
there was a fault in the central-heating system.  On the other side of
London bonfires were lit in the streets of Paddington to prevent water
freezing in the stand pipes.  Cabinet met to discuss emergency measures"

As reported in the Manchester Guardian booklet "The Long Winter 1962-63"