For 14 years it ferried Daniel Radcliffe and his wizard co-stars from King’s Cross to a magical world of spells, scrapes and Quidditch.
Now mere Muggles will be able to follow in Harry Potter’s footsteps — and climb aboard the Hogwarts Express.
The 75 tonne train has arrived at Platform 9 ¾, which has been painstakingly recreated at the Harry Potter Studio Tour.
Award-winning special effects supervisor John Richardson helped install the train, an original 1937 Great Western Railway locomotive It even has billowing steam, created in the same way as nightclub smoke.
Fellow Oscar- and Bafta-winning designer Stuart Craig and his team have reassembled the platform’s glass roof, brick walls, luggage racks and prop luggage at the Warner Bros Leavesden Studios, near London.
Visitors will be able to re-enact scenes in which Harry (Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) set off for Hogwarts — and waved their own children off to school at the end of the series.
They will be also be able to pose with a luggage trolley as it disappears through the platform wall, as described in JK Rowling’s bestselling stories.
Over his 50 years in special effects Richardson has worked on nine James Bond movies as well as all the Potter films — which took 14 years to make.
Hogwarts Express
He said: “The train and Platform 9 ¾ was such an iconic part, certainly of the early films and it was the thread that ran through a lot of them. When you’ve got a steam locomotive it’s quite an incredible sight and when you add Harry Potter it’s even more exciting.”
He said they recreated the steam because “it would look pretty dead if it was just sitting there and didn’t look as though it was hot and steaming and ready to roll.” He added: “It looks fabulous … I can’t wait to see visitors’ faces.”
The Hogwarts Express has been installed in a new permanent 20,000ft expansion. It opens to the public on March 19. Entrance is included in the standard admission charge of £25.50 for children aged five to 15, £33 for adults and £101 for a family ticket. wbstudiotour.co.uk @Louise_Jury
