The rumors were swirling around for a while that we’d be getting a large Harry Potter themed set in 2022. Then the rumor changed to it being a Hogwarts Express and I was super stoked. I pictured a detailed train similar to #10194-1: Emerald Night with lots of details. We’d then get a full up train station and maybe even multiple carriages.

So then some fans in New Zealand accidentally got shipped this set when they ordered #10305-1: Lion Knight Castle. You can read about that here from a blog down under. And The LEGO Group quickly introduced this…

In case you missed it, the set is #76405-1: Hogwarts Express Collector’s Edition. Unless you were one of the folks in New Zealand who got an early copy, it is scheduled to be released in the US on 31 August 2022. It contains 5,129 pieces and should retail in the US for $499.99. This works out to $0.097 per piece.

At a quick glance, I was super impressed. I’ve built #75955-1: Hogwarts Express, but that one has far fewer details. There are a bunch of minifigures as well which is awesome. So besides the price tag, what could be bad here?

Oh wait… this set is 1:32 scale and oh by the way besides it being massive, it DOES NOT FIT ON L-GAUGE RAILS!!!!! Much like #10277-1: Crocodile Locomotive, this set comes on a display stand. However, you can transfer the Crocodile Locomotive to L-Gauge rails and run it with your other trains and add a motor. This one, not so much.

I was also hoping for more passenger carriages. Where are they? We get just one so often, but having a few would be much better. I can’t imagine how much it would be to build your own replica or to buy other sets to just get cars. Next time LEGO, more passenger cars please!

Also, the train station is not a train station, but rather a small chunk of structure. I was hoping for a lot more detail and the ability to actually connect it to a train line. This one will require a lot of building on your own with additional pieces to make that happen.

I can’t be all negative. You do get some cool train parts for MOCs, 20 minifigures isn’t too shabby, and if you don’t like it, you’ve got over 5,000 parts to use elsewhere. . For $500, I’m not sure I can bite the bullet on this one just to get some train parts and 20 minifigures. I’m a fan of the Potter sets and a train fan, but this set doesn’t seem to hit the mark. I’ll wait and see on this one.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!