Harry Potter and the cruise to Japan
GWR 4-6-0 No. 4920 Dumbleton Hall is being permanently shipped to Japan – where it will take pride of place as red-liveried Hogwarts Castle in the new Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter attraction.
As reported in issue 276, No. 4920, which last ran on October 31, 1999, was sold for a substantial six-figure sum to an unnamed buyer by the Dumbleton Hall Preservation Society and South Devon Railway Trust in December 2020. It had been stored at Buckfastleigh for 21 years without any realistic prospect of it joining the restoration queue in the near future. One of the reasons for the apparent lack of an incentive to overhaul it was the fact that for many years it exceeded the axle loading limit for the GWR branch.
Swindon-built of 1929 No. 4920, one of 11 Halls to have survived into the heritage era, was taken by low loader on February 25 last year to the Carnforth base of West Coast Railways – which had restored sister locomotive No. 5972 Olton
Hall from Barry scrapyard condition and first ran it in early 1999. West Coast subsequently repainted
No. 5972 in bright red livery as the ‘Hogwarts Express’ locomotive from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter fantasy novels and it was used as such in the filming of Warner Brothers’ smash-hit adaptations of the books on the West Highland extension.
Olton Hall, which is owned by West Coast chairman David Smith, was, after its boiler ticket expired, rented to the film giant for long-term static display at its hugely-successful Warner Bros. Studio Tour London at Leavesden, Hertfordshire, where it is currently housed. It is understood that Dumbleton Hall has been bought by Warners.
At Carnforth, West Coast staff cosmetically restored and repainted it red, on the same lines as Olton Hall’s makeover.
Mirroring the Leavesden display, a BR Mk.1 coach and a redundant one that had been cut in half were also painted to match those in the movies. In the week before Christmas, Dumbleton Hall and the coaches were moved under tarpaulins to Southampton Docks for permanent export to Japan.
They were due to arrive by the end of January, with the new attraction opening in 2023 and the trio on static display, just like their Leavesden counterparts.
The new venue’s website said: “This is only the second attraction of its kind in the world after London and will offer a brand new entertainment experience for Tokyo. The indoor tour will invite visitors to step into the fascinating behind the scenes world of the Harry Potter films.
“This is not a theme park and there will be no rides; it is a walking tour. Showcasing costumes and props, the indoor attraction will invite visitors to experience scenes from the films first-hand and discover how the world’s favourite book series was brought to life on screen.”