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Hornby to sell Lionel battery-powered G gauge Hogwarts Express set in the UK


eldomtom2
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I believe that the fictitious "Hogwarts Castle" doesn't sport a bell, though that high intensity headlamp does annoy me!

 

Perhaps in the films shown in the US a bell was appended to the soundtrack so the viewers weren't disconcerted by its absence?  :jester:

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A little note of caution - A couple of Garden Rail readers have bought this set and found out the track gauge is 50mm NOT the 45mm for G gauge. It seems that Lionel built it to an old American standard.

 

Hornby have contacted the retailers to alert them and I've someone looking at regauging the model for a future edition of Garden Rail.

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On the Hornby Forum, this post mentions Lionel "Ready to play" track points and other sections are available on Amazon...

 

The Hornby box has "ready to play" on it...so, is the track system the same?

 

https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/forum/remote-controlled-harry-potter-hogwarts-express/?p=1

 



 

howbiman

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@BB......this Lionel track is 55mm gauge so larger than G1........The Lionel track is available on Amazon and looks exactly like the track in the Hornby set, worth investigating if the OP needs more track........HB

 

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Lionel make a whole series of RTP train sets...

 

https://www.lionelstore.com/category/Train-Sets/Battery-Powered-Train-Sets

 

Straight track sections on Amazon...

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lionel-Ready-Straight-Track-Pieces/dp/B01D4T7GU0

 

Extract from the Amazon listing for the Polar Express set...

 



 

With this Ready-to-Play set comes an exclusive track system which allows you to create; a circle, a rectangle or an oval layout. As this track system is exclusive to Ready-to-Play set, it is not compatible with Lionel G Gauge or other G Gauge track systems.

 

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1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

A little note of caution - A couple of Garden Rail readers have bought this set and found out the track gauge is 50mm NOT the 45mm for G gauge. It seems that Lionel built it to an old American standard.

 

Hornby have contacted the retailers to alert them and I've someone looking at regauging the model for a future edition of Garden Rail.

 

The email that Hornby sent out yesterday mentioned the track contained with the set:

 

  • 24 Curved and 8 Straight Plastic Track Pieces - Inside Track Measurement: 55mm

 

Confusion!!!

 

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Interesting that Lionel themselves are not able to supply any until 20 Aug so it looks like Hornby could well have taken all the available stock https://www.lionelstore.com/Hogwarts-Express-Ready-To-Play-Set Reviews are quite positive unless they have been cropped to delete the negative ones.

 

In terms of track gauges Lionel list HO,O,S and "ready to play", of which their is are packs of 12 straights or curves and a pack of two points (LH & RH) https://www.lionelstore.com/category/Track-and-Power?custitem_gauge=Ready~to~Play

They also make the statement " As this track system is exclusive to Ready-to-Play sets, it is not compatible with Lionel G Gauge or other G Gauge track systems." https://www.lionelstore.com/gauge

Google has a link to an Amazon.com page (although the text it quotes is not readily evident) with quoted text being

"Lionel Ready-to-play track is shorter in length and height than the G gauge track. It's also wider — 2” between rails which is about 1/4” wider than the G-gauge …"

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