The fourth and final Harry Potter minifigure originates from the epilogue to the whole series, in which several characters bid farewell to their children at Kings Cross Station. While simple, his clothing reflects the source material and I like the double-sided head, which perfectly captures Harry's older appearance. Appropriately, his scar nearly vanishes beneath this hair component. The realistic proportions between the locomotive and tender are among the greatest strengths of this model, particularly because other LEGO trains have sometimes struggled in that regard. Fortunately, this example appears perfect and viewing the vehicle from either side also reveals its authentic wheel arrangement.

Bags 1 and 2 build the locomotive, based on the real-life Great Western Railway Hall Class, no. 5972 “Olton Hall”. The most basic differentiator of any steam locomotive is the wheel arrangement, and the set gets it right, and reasonably proportionate as well. Olton Hall is a 4-6-0: four leading or pilot wheels, six driving wheels (connected to the drive shaft, in other words, powered), and no trailing wheels (when present, these would be under the firebox or cab). Accessory elements include 3 pieces of luggage, 4 wands, chocolate frog, ice cream, 2 newspapers, King's Cross Station sign, Platform 9¾™ sign and a ‘Wanted' poster. Extensive detail continues at either end of the carriage, including functional doors, a trans-red beacon and realistic pipes. Moreover, viewing the vehicle from here reveals its rounded sides and the gentle curvature of the roof. The flame yellowish orange stripes are attractive as well, although they should continue across the doors, so those elements should have been printed. Several new hair pieces have been created for the Wizarding World theme, including Hermione's wavy style. This reddish brown element is cast in a hard plastic and looks fantastic in relation to the source material, featuring some lovely textured detail and hanging naturally over the minifigure's shoulders. The head is nicely decorated with two different expressions and Hermione carries a dark tan wand, a spare of which is also included.

Minifigures

Most minifigure-scale renditions of the Hogwarts Express have included a section of either Hogsmeade or Kings Cross Station. The latter location appears here and it looks magnificent, featuring a footbridge at one end of the model and Platform 9 ¾ at the other. I like the tan walls in combination with the light bluish grey platform and the platform itself is reasonably spacious, measuring 31cm in length, so there is plenty of room for minifigures. Another axle links the tender to the passenger carriage. The distance between sections of the train appears realistic and the opposing buffers are excellent, although I wonder whether there was potential to include a brake hose at this scale. However, actually attaching that hose would likely be challenging. While periodically mentioned, the Train Conductor is never clearly identified onscreen. This minifigure therefore takes inspiration from the costumes worn at the Warner Bros' Studio Tour and other Harry Potter experiences. His traditional uniform and watch chain suit the Hogwarts Express, while the bearded head is brand new. The omission of Hermione and Ron makes more sense when you factor in their two kids, plus Draco and his family, at which point the platform becomes dangerously crowded. Great review! It shows really well the unique strengths and flaws of this set. And it's great to see it next to that smaller set, as this really shows the massive size and also makes very clear why it wouldn't have been feasible to make this into a running model.

As for the passenger car, it should indeed have been longer, but it still looks pretty great. The windows don't really bother me, it's more the doors that look a bit smallish. As for the coupling distance: while it does look nice and close, the buffer should be right against each other. In real trains there are springs inside to keep them like that in curves, only in toy/model trains there just has to be some distance to keep them from derailing. The interior is far more detailed than I anticipated, featuring four seats with sand blue upholstery along with a matching floor. Both the roof and the left side of the carriage are only attached using a few studs so they can be removed with ease, allowing access to place minifigures inside. Hopefully the designers of future LEGO trains will include similar removable wall panels as this is extremely useful for play. The two competing lines of thought are that they don’t need to have such a huge range of high-end sets to the point that nobody can collect them all, vs the many customers who only care about the high-end sets from a single theme. If you start making cuts for the obsessive collectors, many customers might be shut out completely. This also allows many themes to go gonzo balls-to-the-wall at least once during their run, where the more pragmatic approach would restrict this opportunity to SW and the Modular series because they got there first. This setup uses Power Functions 1.0, which is also very easy, and the parts are readily available at the Online LEGO Shop. You need a train motor, the battery box, the IR receiver, and a remote is a good idea. Again, you can easily get these individually directly from LEGO.

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Our protagonists generally travel in passenger compartments, but the Hogwarts Express also provides open seating. The third section therefore recreates that seating and takes inspiration from The Half-Blood Prince, where Draco Malfoy and his companions ride. The combination of reddish brown wood panelling and dark blue fabric on the seats looks superb.

The coal tender is connected to the locomotive using a Technic liftarm and includes bands of rivets that correspond with those on the cab. This part of the train appears rather short and should include a third wheel set, although such simplification of the tender does not bother me too much as a larger version would require many more pieces. It represents a definite improvement over 4708 Hogwarts Express which did not come with a tender at all! Another interesting parts decision is that the whole train uses technic connectors between cars, instead of the magnet couplers that have been used in other train sets through last year’s. Maybe it’s a cost saving measure? Or maybe the magnets would have looked awkward with the tiny coaches with a single wheelset at each end. It’s a little unfortunate since as a British train the Hogwarts Express coaches should have the buffers that have always been molded in to LEGO’s magnet couplers. So…are you saying you open bags with consecutive numbers at the same time, or do you open 2+ bags that share a bag number? I’ve run into the latter once or twice in several set, so it wouldn’t phase me, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to open multiple numbers as a group.

Specifications

The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff torsos got new Element ID numbers because the hands are different colors. In 76389 , Luna was the Ravenclaw, and Justin the Hufflepuff." Regarding the length of the passenger car, I could swear the length of the coaches changes over the series of films. Maybe I’m thinking of the real-world train rides, but in most shots it looks like the coach is longer than the engine, but shorter than the engine plus tender. I’ve seen something that shows the coaches on the viaduct being about twice as long as they look in some of the films. The strengthening rods beneath the carriage are similarly authentic, but the proportions of the windows leave something to be desired. While large windows offer a good view of the interior, they appear much too long, in relation to the onscreen passenger carriages. I understand the desire to present the interior, but I would have preferred more accurate windows. While the doors are functional for minifigures, actually reaching inside the vestibules is difficult. Sections of the roof can be removed, but they provide very limited access. Unfortunately, I am unsure how this could have been avoided because the doors must be secured, so detachable wall panels or larger roof panels would be impractical.