Dumbleton Hall for new Harry Potter Japan attraction

GWR 4-6-0 No. 4920 Dumbleton Hall has been exported to Japan, The RM can confirm.

The 1929-built Collett ‘Hall’ is to be among the exhibits in the new Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter, which is due to open in Toshimaen in 2023.

No. 4920, which last ran on October 31, 1999, was sold by Dumbleton Hall Preservation Society and South Devon Railway Trust in December

2020. At the time, the identity of the buyer was not publicly disclosed – but it was confirmed that the loco had been sold for a six-figure sum. It later emerged that the loco had departed for West Coast Railways (WCR) at Carnforth, the move being undertaken on February 25, 2021.

The RM understands the loco is now owned by Warner Bros and that WCR has repainted No. 4920 ready for its new role. In the week before Christmas, the 4-6-0 was moved by road, along with two carriages, to Southampton for permanent export to Japan.

No. 4920 is destined for a static future. According to the Q&A section of the attraction’s website, “This is not a theme park and there will be no rides, it is a walking tour.”

Sister loco No. 5972 Olton Hall, which starred in the Harry Potter film series at the head of ‘Hogwarts Express’, remains on static display at The Harry Potter Museum at Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden, near Watford.

MATT BUCK No. 4920 Dumbleton Hall at Buckfastleigh on the South Devon Railway on July 17, 2017. It has since been repainted into red livery at WCR in Carnforth before leaving for the Far East.