Posted by RichardG on December 10, 2004 at 14:28:09 from 212.137.34.25 user RichardG.
In Reply to: Harry Potter in Lakeland District? posted by Ed Kiser on December 10, 2004 at 05:46:07:
Which of the three films were you watching, Ed ? The next one, currently in production, should feature the Hogwarts Lake in much more detail, although I doubt if it is being filmed in Cumbria.
The train is real enough, and makes visits to various places in the UK - I think it took JKR on a promotional tour when one of the books came out. Her railway knowledge is a bit limited though - she wrote the relevant part of the first book in Manchester and had Euston station (where the Manchester trains come in to London) in her mind when she described it, not Kings Cross (from where trains run up eastern England). That is why the real platforms 9 and 10 are a bit nondescript. To add to the confusion, there were four railway companies that ran in GB before 1948; the LMSR used Euston, the LNER Kings Cross (both of which ran trains to the far north) but she wanted the Hogwarts Express to be a GWR loco, although the GWR ran from Paddington to the west, and it is a GWR loco that has been painted red and features in the films.