Hornby launches Harry Potter Hogwarts Express Playtrains set for families

Hornby has put Harry Potter at the center of a family-focused Playtrains push, with a Hogwarts Express set designed to look less like a shelf model and more like an easy first railway. The new listing, R9370SSM, is backed by the R9371SS locomotive and R9372 coach pack, with the full set priced at £79.99, the locomotive at £44.99 and the coaches at £19.99.

The layout is built for immediate play value. Hornby has specified a figure-of-eight track plan with a siding, a battery-powered system that needs no wiring, King’s Cross Platform 9¾, Hogsmeade station buildings and a hand controller. The package includes a Hogwarts Castle steam locomotive and two passenger coaches with magnetic couplings, which makes the consist easy to lengthen without turning the set into a full-scale modelling project.

That balance is the real story here. Hornby has aimed Playtrains at children aged 5 to 8 after originally launching the range in 2021 for 3 to 6-year-olds, and the company has spent 2025 reshaping the line into something more conventional in railway appearance. The range now leans on lights, sound, an easy-to-build track system, a USB-C rechargeable battery and an infrared controller, while Hornby says all Playtrains products are fully compatible with Track Extension Packs and Builder+ accessories.

Those details matter because they show Hornby is not simply selling a one-off licensed toy. The company is selling a system that can grow, with the sort of add-on path that gives parents and gift buyers a clear next step after the first set is unboxed. Hornby also ties Playtrains to imaginative play, fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and cognitive development, which reinforces the pitch as an accessible entry point rather than a dead-end plaything.

Hornby has been here before in a different form. The company previously sold an earlier Harry Potter OO-gauge Hogwarts Express set, item R1234T, with a DCC-ready 5972 locomotive, working headlight and two coaches. That earlier release sat squarely in the traditional model railway lane. This new Playtrains version is far more self-contained and toy-like, which makes the divide clear: one range is for expanding into the hobby, the other is for easing into it.

The timing also works in Hornby’s favour. HBO’s Harry Potter series is due to begin with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone at Christmas 2026, and Warner Bros. Discovery has said the show is meant to introduce the story to a new generation. Hornby is tapping the same handoff, using the Hogwarts Express to make Playtrains feel like a doorway rather than a cul-de-sac, and the figure-of-eight layout is the strongest clue that this gateway was built to keep opening.