Harry Potter

Hogwarts Express & Hogsmeade Station

The Hogwarts Express you can actually run on real track, station included.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 76423 · 2023

Pieces1,080

Minifigs8

Year2023

Set number76423

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is the version of the Hogwarts Express I keep pointing people toward, because it does the one thing the giant 5,000-piece Collector's Edition doesn't.

It runs on standard LEGO track, and it comes with a proper Hogsmeade Station, the first one since 2004. Eight minifigures, a genuinely clever set of rotating front wheels, and a price that won't make you wince. It won me over slowly, and then completely.

Best for: Harry Potter fans who want a playable train, not a display-only showpiece

The full review

What it is

There's a specific kind of joy in a LEGO® set that actually does the thing it's shaped like, and this one does. It's a Hogwarts Express that rolls on normal LEGO track, curves and all, and it arrives with a companion Hogsmeade Station that's the first the theme has seen since way back in 2004. That combination is the whole pitch, and it's a good one. You build the scarlet engine, the coal tender, two passenger carriages, and the Trolley Witch's little sweets cart, then you build a station to pull into. Most Hogwarts Express sets over the years have been a train and nothing else, so having somewhere to arrive changes how the finished thing feels on a shelf or a play table.

The catch

There are a couple of honest wrinkles to talk about, though. The passenger coaches are on the small side. No opening doors, little windows, and room for maybe four minifigures if they cooperate. That leads straight into the funniest and most frustrating quirk here, which is that five of your eight figures have short legs, and short legs don't bend, so half the cast can't actually sit down inside the train they came with. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco are all kids, and kids get the stubby legs. It's authentic, sure, but it does undercut the play a little. The price sits around 130 dollars, which is fair for what you get and not a steal, and if you line the slim coaches up next to that lovely engine they do look a touch underfed.

Who it's for

If you love Harry Potter and you want a train you can push around a loop of track with a station to stop at, this is the easy pick, and it's far kinder to your wallet and your shelf space than the enormous Collector's Edition. If you're chasing the most detailed, most screen-accurate Hogwarts Express ever made and you have a coffee table to sacrifice, that big 76405 is the one you actually want instead. But for most people who just want the magic of the train without turning it into a second mortgage, this hits the sweet spot. It retired at the end of 2025, so if it's calling to you, don't wait too long.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build splits into two nice halves. The station goes together first and it's the more relaxed, architectural part of the evening, a modest open-backed structure with a ticket office, an Owl Post, a restroom and a platform, plus a little signpost pointing you toward both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Then comes the train, which is where the engineering lives. The star trick is the front buffer beam, where the leading wheels rotate so the locomotive can take LEGO curves instead of only straight track, and the set even includes small derailer ramps so younger builders can re-rail it without fuss. Metal train axles make a return here too after a five-year absence, which is a small thing that train fans genuinely cheer about because it adds real weight and rolls better.

Piece for piece, the value story is about the minifigures and the printing rather than exotic new molds. Eight figures is generous, and this is the first ever LEGO Lee Jordan, alongside Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Hagrid, the Trolley Witch and the conductor. Hermione gets a molded skirt, and all four students have a second face printed on the reverse so you can swap their expressions. The little extras are the kind of thing that makes a Potter fan grin: a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and the photo album Hagrid gives Harry. At 1,074 pieces for roughly 130 dollars the price per part lands right where you'd expect for a licensed set, and the four straight track sections and two ramps in the box mean you can run it out of the gate.

Fun facts

01This was the first Hogwarts Express set to include two passenger carriages, where earlier versions gave you just one.
02It brought back the LEGO Hogsmeade Station for the first time since 2004, nearly twenty years earlier.
03It's the first set to include a minifigure of Lee Jordan, the Gryffindor Quidditch commentator and friend of the Weasley twins.
04Unlike the giant 5,129-piece Collector's Edition released the year before, this train is designed to run on standard LEGO track.