LEGO dampens expectations around more giant trains after the Hogwarts Express

The LEGO Harry Potter team has dampened expectations around more large-scale LEGO trains, following the launch of this year’s 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition.

Coming in at 5,187 pieces for £429.99 / $499.99 / €499.99, the latest Wizarding World locomotive is far and away the biggest (and most expensive) LEGO train to date. In fact, it’s so massive that it can’t fit on standard LEGO track – and instead has its own custom-built rails, which are exactly one stud wider than the single-purpose track elements.

While the set has established a new scale, though, it’s not one that we’ll be revisiting any time soon. That’s according to LEGO Harry Potter Design Lead Andrew Seenan, who says we ‘probably won’t’ see any more trains built to the same scale as 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition.

“I think you need to look at this as a model that’s kind of unique in its execution,” he tells Brick Fanatics and other LEGO Fan Media. “We did it for several reasons in this execution. This is not just a normal train – it’s a train that throughout the movies, there are so many wonderful scenes and stories that can be told. That’s why we did it at a larger scale so that we can showcase those stories.

“It’s a different type of offering than you would expect from a more traditional LEGO train, hence the scale. So it’s not necessarily something that will be replicated, but of course within LEGO, you never know.”

It sounds like the door isn’t closed entirely, then, but the LEGO Group would need something really special to justify returning to the scale set by 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition. A simple update or follow-up to something like 2009’s 10194 Emerald Night – heavily requested by the fan community – probably wouldn’t cut it, for instance.

That does mean all future trains are at least likely to be compatible with standard LEGO track, though. The width of the rails in 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition were not only determined by the three mini dioramas featured in the set’s passenger carriage, but also by the sheer bulk of the train (necessitated by those vignettes) – as the design team has already revealed, it was simply too big and heavy to link up with the LEGO Group’s Powered Up system.

It’s just another example of how 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition is a genuinely unique case for the LEGO system, and why – as Seenan says – it’s likely to remain that way for some time to come.

Click here to check out our full review of 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition, which is available now at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores.

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Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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