Speaking of Hogwarts...

[SantaFe158]

I didn't want to highjack Chuck's thread about his HE set modifications but I thought everybody looking at his great work might appreciate this gift I received. Department 56 announced a new Harry Potter series awhile back and I believe they arrived to dealers not too long ago. So far it's just a small set of buildings and accessories, but I presume they'll add on in the future. My parents gave me most of the collection as a Christmas/early birthday gift, and I've since ordered the remaining pieces.

So far I have the castle, Hagrid's house, the Quidditch game animation, Harry/Dumbledore Figure set and the Hagrid figure. On order is the Wand Shop building and the Ron/Hermione figure set.

The castle is way scaled down, which is understandable due to how large it would be to match the scale of the other buildings. It would look good as a background building perched up high on a mountain like it is in the movies. Hagrid's house matches pretty well with other Christmas Village building scales, and looks reasonable next to the Lionel set. The Hagrid figure is probably the only one that could be considered O scale. The figures are all about a scale 8-10 feet high, which I believe Hagrid was supposed to be in the story. The Quidditch game has Harry and the "Golden snitch" suspended on metal hooks, which slide into the flag pole of the base and rotate. The pieces aren't cheap, but they do look nice with the Lionel set.

Here is a photo and video of everything running together under our Christmas Tree.

IMG_7652.jpg (2.2 MiB) Viewed 8165 times

https://youtu.be/fUQR926peHg

[chuck]

Congrats. The Castle would look good up on a perch in the background. Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak are beautifully done and I like the action on the Quidditch game. Enjoy!!!!

[SantaFe158]

Congrats. The Castle would look good up on a perch in the background. Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak are beautifully done and I like the action on the Quidditch game. Enjoy!!!!

Thanks Chuck. I'll need to work on a nice display for them. We'll probably keep this set out all year now.

[chuck]

It's a nice set. My only "issue" is the operating radius. The loco can't handle anything less than O36 and it really only runs well at O60 or greater. I ran some tests on the deck and you could see the train struggling with the tighter curvature, noticeably slowing down in the curves even with additional power feeds. At O72 the loco can pull the original set plus the two add on cars with no problems. I had to add a ER sound board to get a nice whistle and chuff. LionChief sounds pretty good in the videos I've seen posted on YouTube. Enjoy!

[Roy]

Jake, The Dept. 56 stuff is a great find. Thanks, for sharing it with us.

Please forgive my drift:

It's a nice set. My only "issue" is the operating radius. The loco can't handle anything less than O36 and it really only runs well at O60 or greater. I ran some tests on the deck and you could see the train struggling with the tighter curvature, noticeably slowing down in the curves even with additional power feeds. At O72 the loco can pull the original set plus the two add on cars with no problems...

And here, I was going to re-rig the front truck to allow it to run on 027. Chuck, what do you think accounts for the curve slowing? The center driver is blind, is it not? The loco motor is a DC cheapie. The gearing is likely a single-start worm and worm wheel, which is evident if the drivers lock up if you try to turn them by hand.

The nice 80W transformer that came with the early versions of the HE that you and I have, outputs a sawtooth waveform - unlike postwar-type transformers, which output a sine wave.

[chuck]

I've run mine on a TPC, the CW 80, and a PW Z. Same issues with curves no matter the power source. I'm thinking it is a combination of the loco's long wheelbase and the large diameter of the drivers.

Pilot truck is an issue with anything less than O-36. It won't work, the pilot flanges will hit the front driver flange.

They may have been better off with trailing driver being blind.

[SantaFe158]

The Wand Shop arrived over the weekend while I was out of town, so I just go to open it yesterday. Another nice looking building. I don't have it plugged in to power yet as I need to dig up a power strip to plug all four pieces into, but here's a photo of it with the others.

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[rogruth]

Chuck,
Although I have no real interest in HE, is there only one HE loco being sold?
Is it separate sale or part of a set? Does the set come with track?
Or do you just pick what you want including track?

When I nuilt my layout I decided on O-42 as a minimum curve with a few
larger used where needed. I knew this would limit the type of locos and cars
I could use but that was OK for me. I did not have enough room for larger
curves and have no problem with non-scale cars that look reasonable.
I do think those beautiful scale cars look wrong on small layouts.

[chuck]

The engine was used in the Shakespeare set and a halloween set. It has been sold as a separate item over the years. Current incarnation is a LionChief/Bluetooth set. The dementors coach has been upgraded with better graphics and sounds. Set comes with O-36 but the loco runs better the wider the curves. The engine can handle O36 fine but the pulling power is compromised. I had trouble with a 5 car consist until I got up to O-72 (aka set plus two add on coaches.

[J. S. Bach]

The Wand Shop arrived over the weekend while I was out of town, so I just go to open it yesterday.

Two questions:
1. How tall is the building?
2. What are the dimensions of the front door?.
TIA.

[SantaFe158]

Two questions:
1. How tall is the building?

7-1/4"

2. What are the dimensions of the front door?.

1/2" wide x 1-3/8" Tall

TIA.

[SantaFe158]

Here's the wand shop lit up.

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[Roy]

I've run mine on a TPC, the CW 80, and a PW Z. Same issues with curves no matter the power source. I'm thinking it is a combination of the loco's long wheelbase and the large diameter of the drivers.

Pilot truck is an issue with anything less than O-36. It won't work, the pilot flanges will hit the front driver flange.

They may have been better off with trailing driver being blind.

I'm working on a different Lionel engine right now, but I can access my Hogwarts Castle engine fairly easily. If we're going to talk about that, we should start a new thread.

[J. S. Bach]

Two questions:
1. How tall is the building?

7-1/4"

2. What are the dimensions of the front door?.

1/2" wide x 1-3/8" Tall

TIA.

Thank you for the information. It appears to be a little on the small side for scale use (based on a 24" wide front door and a 29' height). Darn as I really like the style and would want it right up front.

[SantaFe158]

Two questions:
1. How tall is the building?

7-1/4"

2. What are the dimensions of the front door?.

1/2" wide x 1-3/8" Tall

TIA.

Thank you for the information. It appears to be a little on the small side for scale use (based on a 24" wide front door and a 29' height). Darn as I really like the style and would want it right up front.

Yes, these are definitely not scale buildings. The footprint of the wand shop is also very small. I think as the series fills out a bit (assuming they add more to the collection in the future) it'll make a nice display with the Lionel set as a standalone.