Why the Hogwarts Express lore makes NO SENSE

[@SodorTrain1225]

For a while, I was a Wizarding World fan. During that time, I learned of all the inaccuracies. I brought it up with some friends, and they said, "They're just trains. No one cares." (sigh)

[@RedtailFox1]

to be fair it is a world using magic that is somehow completely obscured from normal eyes while occupying the same reality as our own...... compared to all the questions THAT raises the inaccuracies with the train are a minor thing

[@DangerAngelous]

"friends" you say

[@SodorTrain1225]

@@DangerAngelous Yeah, they most likely weren't friends.

[@SodorTrain1225]

@RedtailFox1 I can see why people wouldn't necessarily care, as the universe is centered more around magic that anything else.

[@countluke2334]

JKR did some incredible worldbuilding. But the decision of having wizards live door to door with muggles and muggles never noticing, funny as the concept it, causes issues. The train being one of them. I would agree these problems are rather minor compared to some others. It is magic, after all, so transformation magic could have been used to "update" the train every now and again.

[@Soundwave3591]

i do find it bemusing that Wizards, with the ability to magically generate fire and anti-friction spells, would probably find it EASIER to keep a steam engine of any vintage running than a diesel or electric train.

[@gothnerd887]

I've been trying to figure out what a train ride with my favourite D&D party would be like and I've concluded that if we factor in everything that can go wrong the druid seems like the most useful class to bring along.

[@vocalist92]

Isn't the implication that their whole society has been so heavily built around magic that they didn't really take on Muggle innovations? Hence why no pure wizard families have things like smart phones or the internet? Arthur Weasley didn't even know what function a Rubber Duck served

[@jubeldoktor]

The whole deal with using any machinery or even doing anything collapses when you wonder about the logic of it all. Why get up in the morning? Everything is charmed to work for itself. Why meet people? You can trick your imagination magically. Et cetera, et cetera.

[@zathary564]

​@@jubeldoktor Because life is more fun when you're active and moving! Plus HP magic is limited in some places.

[@HaddaClu]

Well they do say that electrical equipment just tends to not work due to all the magic; so in a way keeping an old steam loco in service does make some sense.

[@solarflare623]

Headcanon time! My personal headcanon is that the wizards have stolen multiple locomotives over the years. They have all been enchanted in a similar manner to the Weasley family car. However they are incapable of flight as they are too heavy (and the passenger cars are not enchanted so they wouldn’t fly). The train primarily travels on mainline tracks and uses magic to avoid crashing into regular trains and being seen by muggles. The only line built by wizards is the branch line to hogwarts. It connects to the mainline via a hidden switch in a tunnel that goes straight through the wall like the entrance to platform 9 3/4. Due to the locomotives being enchanted the crew tries their best to keep them in service for as long as possible. However even magic can’t beat the slow march of time. So far there have been only 2 locomotives both named hogwarts castle. The first was built in the 1830’s and was used until the 1960’s. The second one is the hall class that we see in the movies. It’s currently in service today and there are no plans for its replacement.

[@ezugen]

So kinda like the bus but as a train

[@solarflare623]

@@ezugen yes

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

Unpopular hot take: JK Rowling's entire worldbuilding of the Wizarding World does not make complete sense at all unlike Wilbert's Awdry's Sodor lore.

[@theaverageteleporter7435]

To be fair most things jk rowling says dose not make sense

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

@@theaverageteleporter7435 only the characters make sense through their interactions mostly.

[@TankEngine75]

Just look at the map of the HP Wizarding Schools, it's utterly ridiculous, Possible History already made a video on it

[@Akshathtesekar]

true facts

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

@@Akshathtesekar Although I sometimes take issue of how Wilbert gave such unnecessarily over-the-top origins for the engines to justify their appearances in the illustrations (Some of the engines literally being prototypes, Thomas being sold on war service, Gordon being a Gresley-Stanier hybrid etc..), but at least I will look past that when everything else is mostly well thought out.

[@trainboi777yall6]

I personally have my own head cannon regarding the Hogwarts Express. Back when steam was still common in the UK, it was ran by a regular railway who was sworn to secrecy about the wizarding world, and during the off seasons it was used as a training route for new drivers

[@sglenny001]

I like that theroy although my headcanon is that it was of LNER expansion and use today as Rail Tour train with a viewing coach this how it keeps its revonew I can imagine hogsmead is popular with tourists

[@glynluff2595]

Then you must be as old as I and I am very old!

[@abcdeshole]

It was run.

[@lozm4835]

Honestly, there was a lot of space for muggles in the know in the books. I mean, there's presumably a bunch of family members involved in the whole affair, and not all of them are Dursleys. I can imagine space for 'Muggle Studies' to literally involve muggle studies - i.e. an abridged version of a typical education to round out the students, taught by in-the-know muggles.

[@LBSC70]

Didn't know there's a chance the Hogwarts Express could be sentient

[@FunAngelo2005]

More closer to a Ivor the engine style rather than Thomas

[@ChimpyWallah]

They have a sentient hat, why not a sentient train?

[@trainboy04asmallfrye20]

This ain’t Super Mario Odyssey

[@thomasawl]

if i was the sentient hogwarts express i would beg for my safety valve to get stuck

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

If the Hogwarts Express DID exist irl, then it wouldn't be looking like the iconic Great Westerner as per the films. It would be something of a freelance design as per the books.

[@SouRwy4501Productions]

I personally like to believe that 5972 wasn’t the original Hogwarts Express, but was most likely the second, or even the third. 5972 was a later purchase to replace a previous unknown engine (most likely a high-drivered 4-4-0 or light 4-6-0). The other engines were either scrapped or relocated. They also most likely stole or purchased a Crosby 3-chime whistle from a London Northeastern passenger locomotive (likely a spare A4 or P2 whistle)

[@bobross4449]

My personal theory is that Hogwarts stole the hall class form a scrap yard or they stole a wrecked one and repaired it with magic

[@nimaforoughi7266]

Fair. It also has precedence. The "wizarding world" seems to love using old derelict and unassuming buildings as a facade for to hide behind. So it's fitting that one repurposed old rolling stock. An overarching theme in the first books is also the wizarding world's seemingly laughable lack of knowledge of the Muggle World. Maybe they read about steam trains while studying muggle engineering and by that logic they might believe that the current Hogwarts Express is state of the art technology, but this is more a fun thought than a real theory.

[@DanHill1991]

My favourite obscure bit of Harry Potter trivia relates to the Hogwarts Express, and it's that when Harry and Ron discover the Hogwarts Express is behind them in the car in Chamber of Secrets, the shot of the loco is actually Peppercorn K1 no. 62005, apparently on the day 5972 had an issue and 62005 was up at Fort William, so they stuck 5972's numberplate on the front to get the shot. I always felt something was on off in that shot and it was only a few years back I found out about it.

[@NCMA29]

But weren't the Peppercorns LNER? Was it painted red for the film?

[@DanHill1991]

@@NCMA29 It was an LNER and Peppercorn design, but 62005 was built by BR. It wasn't painted red, as I think it was only needed for that very brief shot, so they just put 5972's numberplate and Hogwarts Express Headboard on it.

[@NCMA29]

@@DanHill1991 That makes sense. Is 62005 the loco that currently runs on the Mallaig-Ft William line?

[@ajkleipass]

My pet peeve is that Ron's father, a lover of all things muggle, doesn't have a model train set.

[@alaeriia01]

You know what? That bothers me too now.

[@Charmaster04]

I'd like this comment, but, 17 likes... you know... the coming of age number, the most magically powerful number plus ten... Now I'm bugged as well, although I suppose I'm not to say he doesn't have one off-screen (Not to mention in the books, where you'd be able to pick out even fewer 'muggle artifacts').

[@tjmfarming9584]

the innaccuracies... they just baffle me. Here's how I would have done it: 1. Instead of making the hogwarts express start in the 1830's, it'd make a little more sense to do it in the 1870s. Instead of a Bright-Red steam engine being stolen from Crewe works, Make it a Black LNWR engine, but the wizards "Painted it" Red. 2. Following the development of bigger locomotives, the original engine was "Rebuilt" several times, (By rebuilt I mean they just stole new engine parts from the workshops and used magic to place upgrades on the engine.) 3. Some wizards happened to read the Rev W Awdry's Railway series books and said "Hey! this isn't too bad!" and used magic to bring sentience to Hogwarts Castle. giving it the ability to communicate with it's crew as such, but in order to avoid scaring the muggle-born wizards attending hogwarts (and to blend in with the rest of the british railway network) there was no face on the smokebox. 4. The Hogwarts express Engine, along with the carriages only run the school train at certain parts of the year. The rest of the time, the train operates a regular service along the magical railway system, (and when it needs an overhaul but cannot be done with magic, it's temporarily given a "Big Four" livery whilst in the works so as to not arouse suspicion.) The need of overhauling of the boiler is the reason why, especially post-1960s the engine runs almost purely on magic.

[@sockshandle]

To be fair though… surely they could afford hiring the cost of the boiler work out to a heritage railway?

[@Charmaster04]

Sentience also could have come around as an unintentional but/or inevitable quirk, like with Mr. Weasly's car. It probably can't communicate much, nor does it try to, but a mildly intelligent object with no obvious place to keep its brain (to use Mrs. Weasly's metaphor) getting triggered unexpectedly by certain stimuli would feel about right for enchanted objects in the J.K. Rowling universe.

[@Shipwright1918]

Always been my little bit of headcannon/in-joke that things like signal failures and other odd faults on the railway are the side-effects of a wizarding train passing through the area, as in the HP-verse it's said magic doesn't tend to play nicely with modern electronics/tech. As non-magic folk, we can't notice the train itself because the enchantments on it bamboozle our senses, but even magic has its limits, so we can notice the "wake" the train leaves behind it as it passes if we're paying attention. According to the lore, the Hog Ex is kept and maintained at 9 3/4 when it isn't being used, though considering it has a whole department of the MoM dedicated to overseeing its use, would make a bit more sense for the train to be hired out or otherwise used for magical transport when the school isn't using it. Even in the wizarding world money is an object, and it doesn't make sense to leave all the personnel and equipment idle for most of the year. Also assumed by the monniker of "Hogwarts Railways", plural, there was more than one route and more than one train in service.

[@atrainspottersphotoguide1166]

My headcannon for it is that Squibs (non magic offspring of witches and wizards) worked the railways so signalled it through as a livestock train (Hogwarts). Also that the train was red to match Midland Railway trains that ran from Kings Cross until 1868 and that the connection for Platform 9 and 3/4 was on the Widened Lines around platforms 15/16.

[@still_guns]

I'm a tertiary writer for a Harry Potter crossover fic, and one of my first goals was fixing the Express. Here's my personal lore for it: Instead of being stolen from Crewe, it was stolen from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, with a Planet type locomotive being the engine that was stolen. A platform at Euston was built when that station opened and was replaced by 9 3/4 at KGX. After several years, the Planet type was transfigured into a GNSR Class O, before being transfigured again several years after that into an LMS 6P Jubilee which is the final form of the Express, with the coaches similarly being LMS types now. And the Express is very much sentient in this fic. Her name is Moira thank you very much.

[@xr6lad]

Too much time on your hands.

[@still_guns]

If it means anything, I came up with that in about a week. XD

[@RedtailFox1]

@@xr6ladeveryone needs a hobby.

[@slimetank394]

i love Moira already

[@tjmfarming9584]

transfiguration would actually make a heap more sense than just stealing a bunch of locos over the years...

[@bennickss]

So: The Hogwarts Express is a GWR Hall class which carries the name of a Castle class and the chime whistle of a BR standard 7 Britannia, which was stolen from Crewe (10 years before Crewe Works were built), which runs from Kings Cross to Goathland via the West Highland line. Total sense there!

[@louisdobbs1832]

My biggest gripe is why call it hogwarts caste like I don't think in the books (been ten years since I read em) she's ever called hogwarts caste so given she's a hall class why not just name her The Great Hall like the great hall in the books

[@Simerali]

I like to think that it was an engine owned by the GWR but some member of the railway board was a squib and allowed it to be allocated the same time every year and have it disguised as the loco going for a bit of quick maintenance

[@JangoFett220]

Something I wondered a bit in recent years is the actual route the train would take (for the London part). Whether they basically follow the route of the East Coast Mainline when passing through London before entering open country, or if it runs the ECML as normal up to the gasworks tunnel but for the express it’s actually longer so it therefore goes underneath the whole of North London (bit like HS1) and then remerges in open country

[@thomasgroves3611]

Hmmm.... how did they steal an entire locomotive...? **Johny Cash starts playing**

[@Charmaster04]

Toll fraud? Sorry, the Rock Island Line song is the only Johny Cash train related song I've heard, and I was confused when I heard the whole thing because I'd only heard the part of the song featured on I Love Toy Trains, not the part with an actual plot (Come to think of it, I think that's the only Johny Cash song I've heard, although neither of those claims are counting a Johny Cash Lionel ad I saw in A Century of Lionel. TM Book and Video fans should be seeing a pattern here).

[@chimeforest]

I mean... if you think about it.. stealing a train which hasn't been invented from a work yard which hasn't been built to run on a line which doesn't exist would cut down on the number of memory altering spells needed to get the job done...

[@ahalfsesameseedbun7472]

Lion being powered by magic to go 80+ kph would be a sight.

[@billymcmedic4221]

I actually wrote a one shot for this a while ago, the main points of my reimagining is that A: the express didn’t run until 1873, to allow for the ECML to be built, B: the original locomotive was a NER class 901 from Gateshead, which would be brand new for 1873 and keep to the theme of stealing a locomotive from a locomotive works (also I’m from near Gateshead so I decided to worm it in, bite me) C: the line to hogsmeade was built via a front company that was going to supposedly build a line from Inverness to mallaig, but ran out of money and construction stopped when it got close enough, and evidence of it “vanished”, the idea being the line could be hidden as just another failed line built during railway mania. D: That engine served until the 1960’s when it was decided to upgrade it, and after an idea to go and steal a new build Diesel engine got shot down, the minister for magic (Nobby leach, canonically a muggleborn), being a GWR fanboy, decided to go and grab GWR loco no. 5900 “Hinderton Hall” from the Woodham Brothers scrapyard of Barry, and Dumbledore decided to paint it red, alongside nicking a few BR mark 1 coaches for good measure, therefore matching the movie appearance.

[@liamastill6733]

I really like the scrapyard idea, maybe they even lifted multiple locos for the future given the end of steam

[@Alex-cw3rz]

The other issue is there is only one place you can get on it so you could live very close to Hogwarts yet have to go down to London to get on the train. Now they could use a portkey or Floo powder making it easy enough, but then why not just use a portkey/Floo network to get to the school in the first place. Now I know you can't use those to get into Hogwarts due to defensive charms. But they can still do it to Hogsmead / outside the gates of the school

[@Charmaster04]

Maybe it's all just the desire for camaraderie, or for upholding tradition, but yeah, it certainly can't be for convenience's sake.

[@Londontransitduck]

I like to think that no 5972 magically re reapers on the gwr main line

[@jacobcave1587]

6:34 even if the channel tunnel did exist in the 1930s I have doubts they would use it it’s impossible to sneak a train though it also the train probably had another purpose by 1934 Helping Jews escape Germany

[@vylbird8014]

Given how the series shows most wizards are proudly not engaged with the non-magical world at all, they'd probably ignore the whole war as just 'some muggle thing' and not their business. They had their own conflict going on at the time between a faction that wanted to ignore the muggles and a faction that wanted to rule over them. One area of some consistency in the sea of contradictions that is Harry Potter lore: The wizards are not nice. They tend towards severe conservatism and isolationism.

[@IbexWatcher]

The silliest thing to me is to assume that most of the wizards going to Hogwarts live in London area. What if you’re a Scottish wizard you’re being told to fly all the way down to London just to get on a train back to Scotland? what about Seamus and the other Irish wizards is there another train from Belfast or Dublin?

[@liamastill6733]

I'd say the only thing that really annoyed me was that the only place you could get on it was kings cross - seems a bit unfair on students in say, Newcastle either going all the way to London or not taking the train at all. Clearly the train must take the east coast mainline, so why not have secret platforms at Newark-on-Trent, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh? The other thing I was surprised by is the choice of king's cross - while very accurate since that is where the line to Scotland terminates in real life, I find it interesting that Rowling didn't go for the far more impressive Saint Pancras station in all its gothic glory as the terminus. While inaccurate from a railway standpoint, it would have looked far more impressive on screen. I'm hoping that the new harry potter tv show might take a liberty and go for that angle.

[@cr10001]

At least a LMS red engine would have been less glaringly inappropriate at St Pancras, though there's no excuse for painting a GWR Hall in those colours. If I were a GWR fan I'd be spitting tacks.

[@vylbird8014]

The government designing the rail network for the convenience of Londoners and the South East while neglecting to connect the rest of the country? That bit seems very plausible to me.

[@liamastill6733]

@@vylbird8014 hahaha you are very right

[@adriannash2705]

It’s a book series about wizards, I don’t think their focus was on train historical accuracy XD But it is cool that you still did a couple videos on it

[@xr6lad]

I think it’s actually a sign of someone that needs to get a life.

[@ukaszwalczak1154]

@@xr6lad You need to get a life. That is if you're talking about the creator of this video.

[@davidlockwood9192]

Nice to see some Swanage Railway and Holes Bay action going on in the clips ;-) brought back a few memories and worth a subscription on its own!

[@Terrier55Stepney]

Both beautiful places to see trains go through. I have plenty more videos of the newly restored T3 at Swanage yet to edit.

[@headstanding_Penguin]

You missed a point, magic, why shouldn't they have stolen the little cute thingy first and whilst retroviting the run by magic features gone and give the loco a magical facelift to better fit with muggle developement to conceal it better in plain view

[@tidmouthmilk12]

I thought the stock sound for the whistle was from the Bluebell Railway's Camelot. (At least, that's what I'd read somewhere before)

[@gavinjohnson5839]

You are 100% correct.

[@gothnerd887]

2:03 I once watched a D&D campaign where the characters invented the steam engine for a ghost train ride. It makes sense because Eggbert the Dragonborn Paladin can breathe fire and Merilwen the Wood Elf Druid can use the spells; Create/Destroy Water and Produce Flame.

[@hilupianoservice]

As a railfan, it was clear from the first book that Rowling is not a railfan, merely a person who likes trains. So...I just switched off my railroad nitpicker and enjoyed the story.

[@SNER333]

This question has bugged me since I learned about headcodes: Why does the Hogwarts Express have the random bright lamp in the middle? Shouldn't BR headcodes for an express service be the lamps on the left and right (which are still being carried, but not as bright in the case of Hogwarts Castle)?

[@maley2552]

I think the Wizards have stolen multiple engines with the current GWR Hall Class being the final one they've stolen. In the HP lore, more wizards become Half-Blood with a muggle parent or a Mud-Blood with a magic child with two muggle parents. So I assume it's become easier to keep the magic secret when more muggles are learning about then wizarding world.

[@Jude-72]

Im very excited when you ad in George Harrison references to these as adding my two favorite things together is just halifious to see.

[@kkobayashi1]

Why do they need a locomotive if the train is powered by magic anyway? They should just need coaches.

[@MrJimheeren]

Just a silly question. Does the Hogwards express makes stops along the way. Because it seems a little silly for wizards who live in Manchester or heck Glasgow to first travel to London and then back again to school

[@jackmellor5536]

I would love to see how JK Rowling answers that question

[@VintageRenewed]

When you try to take something from a fictional universe and put it into real life then of course it won’t make sense Going on the basis of the Harry potter universe though, people are able to teleport themselves to places and you have port keys that can teleport multiple people. So it isn’t hard to think that the journey from London to hogwarts is a lot faster than real life because it could be using part magic. And as far as the whistle sound in the movie I don’t really think that matters because whistles could have changed over the years. Plus you are making a movie and want it to be pleasing for the audience. Some whistles make a sound that can be unpleasant for people. If you had unpleasant sounds in the movie it won’t do as well. There is nothing wrong putting a whistle from one engine onto a different engine

[@paladinboyd1228]

There's another option for the lore that would have made sense the Ministry of Magic simply asked the British government at the time for help, it would make more sense that some department in the government knows of the wizarding world and makes sure the route both governments agreed upon is not built upon. That would also address the idea of the trains being changed over the years as someone memory spells or not is gonna notice trains and parts are disappearing every couple of years.

[@berkgamer28]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions I always thought there was something off

[@vengefuljester2090]

Ironically, the engine that Hogwarts Express stole its whistle from, 70000 Britannia, was built at Crewe

[@LNERJ15]

"London's Euston not king's cross" I think i spelled that right

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

Me watching the films: "It's not King's Cross anymore, it's St. Pancras..."

[@LNERJ15]

@@TheLazyFusspot_3428 lol

[@jacobcave1587]

@@TheLazyFusspot_3428oh Gordon… said the fat controller

[@taysworld1928]

“Nonsense, London’s paddington. I know, I worked there.”

[@davidcave7986]

@@taysworld1928 I know the book you are referencing

[@StaffsTransport]

Very entertaining video. Enjoyed it a lot. I'm just glad a steam locomotive became a big star in a movie again.

[@vihaantalekar9475]

A Great Western locomotive in red looks very odd

[@Charmaster04]

Hornby's Lord Westwood wants to know your location.

[@Jaidencharlotte]

How are 7 years worth of students supposed to fit in 4 carriages Unless the Hogwarts Express is run by Crosscountry

[@jacobcave1587]

LOL😂😂😂😂

[@Danse_Macabre_125]

It is, I've heard plans for Hogwarts Railways to start subleasing four Voyager units (220003, 220027, 221125 and 221144) for evaluation purposes starting circa 2025.

[@genericyoutubeuser3828]

Stadler and Siemens put in competitive bids, but you’re right that the Voyagers won out. Siemens alleged that their bid was not taken seriously, so they’re appealing the decision with the Ministry of Magic. We’ll see if what happens. This would represent the first magical train Siemens ever built, so that might be why they lost the procurement contract.

[@Danse_Macabre_125]

@genericyoutubeuser3828 Reusing existing Siemens Class 185 Desiros was tested but it failed due to their high axle load and low seat count

[@S160Productions]

As a Harry Potter fan, I can confirm this video makes sense

[@rhodrage]

I'm often saying this when talking about inconsistencies. Now I can use this video to explain it better. Despite her thinking of Eustons 9/10 they don't share an island platform.

[@cr10001]

A GWR Hall, misnamed as a Castle, painted LMS Red and leaving from Kings Cross - was there any possible detail they failed to get spectacularly WRONG? (Though as a Southern fan I thank God or maybe the spirit of Oliver Bulleid, that Taw Valley was spared the same ignominious fate. Suffer, GWR fans :)

[@sudrianrailwaystudios676]

Great video, Max!

[@alanabyss9246]

Crewe? Weren’t a hall class built a Swindon?

[@ToastTheThe]

That's what he points out

[@IgorRockt]

How comes that I'm not surprised that an author who butchered basically all fairy tales and folk tales by not understanding what the different monsters actually were (or how they behaved) would butcher other fields, too... As somebody from Germany who loves fairy tales, logic, and history, the whole "Harry Potter" universe is basically the work of somebody who didn't have a single clue about the topics she was writing about (it's the same with Disney, btw.).

[@ukaszwalczak1154]

Like, to be fair[as fair as could be with the fuckass that wrote these] it was all basically just written on a whim, though even i write things on a whim, and try to have them make actual sense.

[@will_levitt926]

i knew one the footplate crew that worked on 5972 during the filming of harry potter

[@benjaminpfister938]

I always got mad about the fact they STOLE the engine in the first place, because to the wizarding world, they didn't give a damn that the Crewe workers having "misplaced" a locomotive WOULD BE FIRED! I never understood why the Ministry didn't approach them outright on purchasing one of their engines and then magicking the paperwork as a fake, but legit company.

[@BrokenIET]

I would have to assume that for the rest of the year it juts runs regular services around the country, with the Hogwarts Express just being a named express that goes non stop solely for the conveyance of school pupils? But you‘d think that type of thing would’ve been added into lore? Its completely ridiculous!

[@Thatmodelrailwayboy]

Good video 😊

[@samgineer9857]

The whistle can be easily explained as while the engine may have been built for the GWR, it could have VERY easily been swapped out at the suggestion of MoM for a whistle like Brittania's.

[@gavinjohnson5839]

The whistle as portrayed in the film isn't a Britanna whistle, neither is it stock. The recording was made especially for the first film and was done at the Bluebell, using 73082 Camelot.

[@therailfanman2078]

So, my friend (who's the wizard fan) and I (the railfan) are gonna use a rapido OO scale Jones Goods to make our own hogwarts express.

[@MagiconIce]

I find the existence of the trains themselves baffling. Like Wizards can teleport or "apparate" themselves. So why is there a train at all? I think there is a somewhat fitting description, that they can only reliably teleport to places, that they know, so this isn't an option for first year students... but their parents have all been to Hogwarts, so why don't they just bring their kids there? And even then, there are floo flames as a stationary means of teleportation, so in theory there could be a floo flame in every magical village and the child stands in there and says "Hogwarts" or "Hogsmeade" and is at the destination without knowing it. It would be way quicker and easier than erecting and maintaing a whole magical train network (since there are apparently more trains in the HP Universe than just the Hogwarts Express Train). So as much as I like trains and especially magical trains with a theory I read further below, that muggles can't see them, they pass through regular trains like ghost trains, but muggles can see their "wake" as "random" failures of switches, signals and such, their existence just doesn't make much sense to me. For whatever reason it seems that all their teleportation skills only extend to people and small objects and not big, heavy objects, so the existence of a freight railway system would've made sense. I could only think of an in-universe explanation, that apparating and other, regular and common known means of teleportaiton are not possible because of the ancient magics protecting Hogwarts and Hogwarts Valley from being seen by Muggles, so they always needed a physical transport into it. I think the Hogwarts: Legacy Game (though I'm not sure, if it could be considered "canon") mentions that before the existence of the Hogwarts Express Wizards used to travel with their Kids to Hogwarts via flying Coaches and stuff. But that wouldn't explain why there are other magical train services in the HP Universe. Maybe it is also physically tiring or straight up impossible to teleport over great distances as an HP-universe wizard, so they need the trains? Regarding that the wizards in the HP universe can hide whole valley from Muggle Eyes and can teleport in one way or the other, I don't think, that it is impossible for them to have a train driving from the British Islands onto Mainland Europe, before the Channel Tunnel was built. They probably had their own secret tunnel erected and protected by magic and also probably invisible. Or the train was water- and airtight and it was driving just on the ocean floor or some stuff like that.

[@thomasawl]

Wait, harry potter has lore? I just thought she-who-shall-not-be-named made stuff up on the fly.

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

Pretty nonsensical worldbuilding. At least Wilbert's lore actually makes some sense, in spite how murky some explanations are.

[@IowaTrainGay]

Omg right?! Seems like it... 👏👏👏

[@xr6lad]

Just for men that have not matured enough to move from their parents home and don’t have any life other than sitting round talking about this stuff. Reminds me of that fanboy scene in Family Guy.

[@hawkerhellfire9152]

Nah, she ripped most of her stuff off. It's a mix of repackaged LOTR, Dracula, Star Wars and a heap of others in a school setting.

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

@@hawkerhellfire9152 I could've imagined her reading "Gordon Goes Foreign", but the possibility is unlikely. However though, St. Pancras was filmed as King's Cross in the movies.

[@M013Productions]

Why didnt they use and wven older engine like idk a 812 or a K2

[@Sudriantank12]

Or maybe an Atlantic

[@M013Productions]

@@Sudriantank12 true true

[@caledonianrailway1233]

Or Caledonian railway 124

[@Jediah-s6p]

I wish he was a LNER B12

[@kkobayashi1]

​​@@Sudriantank12Maybe they wanted an Atlantic and that **** ***** ***** sent them that.

[@Quasihamster]

By stepping onto platform 9 3/4, you enter a parallel universe obviously, where some things are not quite as they are here. ;)

[@David-y6h9p]

I never understood why you had to start the journey in London? If you live in say York you have to go all the way “down souff” to go back “oop north”. Why can’t the train make stops on the way?

[@weloveteddy]

I have an aunt that loves Harry Potter

[@PalmersPhotos]

Everyone with a mild interest in railways knows that the "lore" surrounding the Hogwarts Express is garbage, and Rowling really should have just left a gap that could be filled with any number of fan theories instead. That being said, I still really like it as a literary device (as well as all the added publicity and revenue it has brought to railway preservation movements worldwide), and I am working on my own little expansion in the wizarding world's utilisation of railways in OO scale. As it is a fictional setting, I feel there's a lot of potential there for modellers who want to just do their own thing (and like building kits). Either way though, great video!

[@invisibleman4827]

To be fair, the movie differs slightly from the books, which are set in the 1990s, and since the book descriptions are open to interpretation, it's slightly less of a problem, albeit with a few minor changes to tweak it.

[@SteelSteamCo]

I like the idea of the Hogwarts Express having some sort of sentience😂

[@SteelSteamCo]

Y'know with it not liking kids getting off before it stops?

[@Evaunit98]

The lore for the railway series makes more sense, Sodor is a more believable railway, and those were mean’t to be bed time stories not a full on novel, but that might’ve been because the Rev. W awdry actually cared about getting the details right.

[@aaronmoser2617]

Why does it have a headlamp? I thought british locos didn't have headlights?

[@jameshardy4354]

I hope dumbleton hall returns to the UK and west coast railways return her to steam in gwr or br green

[@TianarTruegard]

While a train ride is a lot more "fun". I would have though flue powder travel would have been a more practical way for students to arrive at Hogwarts. Some sort of public fireplace in Hogsmeade could easily be a thing. Even scheduled Portkeys would have worked easier than using a train. Though setting up that many Portkeys would be a pain. Imagine everyone's Hogwarts acceptance letter being a Portkey...

[@HU1212ICAN3]

Honestly i never even had a tiny bit of curiosity about the lore. I didnt even know there was any until now. These books and the movies mean a lot to me and were a huge part of my childhood, and i think anyone who looks at Harry Potter past whats in the books and movies is wrong for doing so. I hate the memes, the deep dives, the politics and how eveyeone tries to ruin it all. This was my childhood escape and i read all the books and have watched the movies many, many times. I love every one of the movies, especially the last ones. Theres so much emotion in The Deathly Hallows movies.

[@randywise5241]

They must have stollen the train with a future spell. Fiction doesn't need to fit reality. It just needs to tell an interesting story people will pay to read. However, I liked this video. It was educational.

[@gothnerd887]

4:13 probably a magical side effect like Tari's AI causing video game characters to gain sentience. You know; advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic and all that

[@warrior3456_]

seen a few au thomas stories with hogwarts castle being sodor castle

[@nhansen197]

About the only way the loar of the Hogwarts Express can even begin to make sense would be to start them out with enchanted coaches, the kind pulled by horses, all strung together. The tracks would have been Roman roads and cart paths. And I can imagine such a contraption to be very unsafe. Over the years as new technology catches the eyes of the people running the line the Express slowly gets updated. Just one other thing that bugs me is that instead of having prospective students coming from all over England to get to Hogwarts they switched to having students traveling all over England to get to London. This is fine for people in the London area and southwards but kind of pointless for anyone who would have been better off just traveling directly to Hogwarts.

[@mtty1988]

Maybe there was a perosn at BR that was a wizard like you get in other industries and he sold them the carriages when been scrapped. Is there actually a driver if powerful by magic maybe it drives my magic

[@jackmellor5536]

I even mentioned it was a Great Western locomotive in the Harry Potter studios

[@joshslater2426]

I’m still a Harry Potter fan, having been so since age 8, but I’ll admit even back then I didn’t think the rail side of the lore made much sense. I can only imagine that the loco and carriages were swapped out over the years, because a GWR hall would not have been built at Swindon in the 1830s. I like the Hogwarts Express/Olton Hall, but I fear it has a somewhat negative effect on outside knowledge of trains. If you show a steam loco to a non-train fan, chances are they’ll liken it to the Hogwarts Express.

[@stevenplyler6306]

I’m developing my own Magical World story series where Magic people and Non Magic people are friends but not enemies like in the Rowling stories. The story is set in the 21st Century but there are no Magic secrecy laws and it is North America and the Magic people ride Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada passenger trains and Ferromex passenger trains in Mexico and the various North American Commuter lines and Light Etc, and the people are much more nicer than in the Potter-Beasts franchise in general and even sworn Enemies become friends in the end of the story series !

[@cr10001]

"The only reason [Rowling] used Kings Cross at all, was her parents met on a train bound for Scotland." In other words, it might have departed from Kings Cross, OR Euston, OR St Pancras. Bet she doesn't know. Or, apparently, care.

[@joshuaW5621]

Imagine if they used a Castle Class to pull the Hogwarts Express.

[@ToastTheThe]

Can't have a HP related video without people in the comments calling trans people mentally ill 💀

[@mattevans4377]

I can solve at least a couple problems if we assume a typo and 8 is meant to be 9.

[@mtty1988]

Who is it platform 9 1/3 wouldn’t of been a platform zero as its 0 so not really there so a hidden or secret wizard number

[@caledonianproduction]

i am bugged by the fact a hall was used for hogwarts castle (not to serious but is just a little annoying)

[@cr10001]

And painting it LMS Midland Red? It just looks - wrong. (At least Taw Valley escaped that horrible fate).

[@harrisonallen651]

0:22 That illustration looks horrendous

[@EthanDolan61101]

If I were in charge of the Muggle government i would steal the train back, and demand an apology from the ministry of magic.

[@philpreeo5515]

I do like how I’m Hogwarts Legacy, the train is implied to be regularly running between London and Hogsmead. The only thing that annoys me is that they used Olton Hall as the model in the game and not a train used in that time period but that’s just being nitpicky.

[@goldy24t]

I suppose you can retcon it by saying that because magic exists in that universe, technology advanced at a much faster rate than in our world, and other inconsistencies just being chalked down to it's an alternate universe to our own.

[@cr10001]

Some nice shots on the Swanage Railway, I just appreciate them and ignore the Hogwash stuff.

[@Kashi-K]

if you played hogwarts legacy, then it gets worse the game takes place in the 1800s, for some reason the Hogwarts Castle exists back then despite the halls being built in the 1920s it gets even WORSE, as ITS BROAD GAUGE IN THE GAME

[@Braveplantt]

someone forgot the poor old dumbleton hall in japan

[@Bugster42]

i had the same kinf of inffignation ehen a local group put on wind in th willows thlococame up as red the story is set in th wet country so abty loco should have been green be itGWR or southern despite som mid lines reaching down

[@cr10001]

Nearest the Midland would have got was the Somerset & Dorset Joint, for which the Midland/LMS supplied most of the motive power I believe. So one could credibly imagine a Midland Red engine reaching Bournemouth, though that's not really west country.

[@QLDrailfan798]

ladies and gents I've got a better explanation for the Hogwarts express, basically you all know that one magic bracelet that brings people back in time? well basically the M.O.M decided to go forwards in time with it in order to grab the express engine and coaches when the both of them where in the scrapyards to try and preserve them, they moved the whole train in secret from British rail to Hogsmeade, any signalmen they found was Ethier wiped of the memory of seeing the magic or was a wizard/witch themselves and let the train through (if the light was green) where they then went back in time with the engine and coaches all in the station, if there are some issues with this explanation then please write out what they are and I'll try to edit this tailored to that.

[@marshallhuffer4713]

Actually, those "wizardy folk" were against using the Hogwarts Express because it was Muggle technology, and they looked down upon those who couldn't use magic as inferior.

[@ClamTram96]

Even still, 1830s railways were considered a dangerous means of transport, even so where you'd have to fill in a form stating next of kin incase of an accident occurring. JK's world building is extremely poor and the novels other then being simple mystery books for kids fall flat

[@1GeorgeJung]

What Lore? if its not in the books its just fanfic, like Dumbledore being gay, maybe i missed it because the 7th book wasnt worth rereading like i did with the other 6 but implying something doesnt count because it leaves it open to interpretation, it may as well be fanfic. as for building stuff, when did wizards ever build anything? its all magic, the whole wizarding world, complete conjuration, otherwise why doesnt Hermione know it took 37 years to construct hogworts and 7 new wings have been added etc etc. its magic. youve got to remember that JK is a novice and fluked harry potter, she came up with stuff on the go. i dont think voldemort was even going to be resurrected but she couldnt figure out barty crouch jr's motivation besides revenge. Magic is the answer

[@mayohoskotwrandttte]

lets be honest if novel authors don't care 100% about railway accuracy if they have trains in their books

[@RowanMangion1976]

The hogwarts express would be delivering other things to hogwarts through the year eg food etc

[@saswatilahiri8969]

brother it is 5972 Olton Hall

[@PistachioDean]

I like to think she meant 1930's rather than 1830's, which would make more sense...