The worst railway disaster of all time took place in Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004, when a passenger train carrying over 1700 people was swept away by the Great Indian Ocean Tsunami. Weeks later, The Amazing Race 6 broadcast an episode which featured contestants riding that very same train line, though the show had been recorded months earlier. The episode was dedicated to the victims of the tragedy.
26 December heralds two great annual sporting traditions in Australia: the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and the first day of the Boxing Day cricket test in Melbourne.
The first ever Boxing Day Test Match Cricket held at Melbourne Cricket Ground was the third day of the 2nd Ashes Test between Australia v England in 1950.
Australia won by 28 runs in a low scoring match that finished on the following day. Only two batsmen reached 50 and no bowler took more than 4 wickets in an innings.
Never mind
Melbourne has the largest urban network of trams in the world.
Edinburgh Trams is a 14 km tram line between the New Town and Edinburgh Airport, with 15 stops.
Construction began in June 2008 but suffered heavy delays. It finally opened on 31 May 2014.
Although budgeted and approved to cost £375 million in 2003, the final cost was £776m, not including more than £200m in interest on a 30-year loan taken out by the council to cover a funding shortfall, or almost £2000 per Edinburgh resident.
I have yet to find a reason to use it. 
The Maglev train at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai opened on 01 January 2004. It was the first commercially operated high-speed magnetic levitation line in the world, and now is still only the third Maglev line to be operated.
More on this maglev train (I can C&P with the best - snippets from Wikipedia):
“Levitation” was the tenth studio album by English acid-rock group Hawkwind.
Released in 1980, it peaked at No. 21 on the UK Albums Chart and was the only Hawkwind recording to feature Ginger Baker, ex-drummer of supergroup Cream.
The Transcendental Meditation movement claims that practitioners of the TM-Sidhi program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi achieve a form of levitation involving three stages of Yogic Flying – hopping, floating, and flying – and that they have so far achieved the first stage.
Yogi Bear was one of several Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters to feature a collar.
This allowed animators to keep the body static, redrawing only the head for each speaking frame. This reduced the number of drawings needed for a seven-minute cartoon by a multiple of seven, to around two thousand.
In the comic strip Beetle Bailey, Sgt. Snorkel’s dog Otto (among otherwise human**** characters)**** wears a complete full-dress military uniform. including starched collar and necktie. But the rank stripes are absent, to avoid the appearance of a violation of military protocol against impersonating an officer.
US Marines are called “leathernecks” because of a high leather collar originally used on their uniforms to protect against sword blows from Barbary pirates. It also allegedly enhanced military bearing by forcing enlisted men to hold their heads straight and chins high.
The leatherback sea turtle is differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell.
Rock singer Larry Williams had three singles that were high on the charts in 1957, all relating to personal characteristics of women: “Short Fat Fannie”, “**Bony **Moronie”, and “Dizzy, Miss Lizzy”
Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States on Jan. 20, 1957, having handily defeated Adlai Stevenson for a second time the previous November.
Adlai Stevenson was vice president of the United States during Grover Cleveland’s second term.
Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, was also a composer. His musical output included solos, duets, trios and quartets for various combinations of flageolet, flute, clarinet, violin, guitar, mandolin, and piano.
Rod Stewart’s Mandolin Wind reached number reached number 6 on the charts in 1971.
Marjorie Jackson is an Australian athlete who won gold medals in both the 100m and 200m sprints at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.
She went on to become the Governor of South Australia from 2001 to 2007.