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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Train in Reverse
When Harry succeeds in getting onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross, the first thing he sees is a scarlet steam engine. The engine should be at the front of the train, and the entrance to the platforms at any terminus - certainly at King's Cross, magic or not - is at the back of the train (otherwise, the train has to leave through the station concourse). So the engine seems to be at the wrong end (this slip-up is repeated on the cover of the book).
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Rated 1.9/10 (562 ratings) Your opinion?
Special Requirements: any copy
Contributed By: thekkers on 05-04-2000 and Reviewed By: Webmaster
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Comments:
Anyone writes:
Do you know which direction the train is going? Any part of the train where the engine is is the "front".
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
SweetPea writes:
Im not sure why,but I've seen trains with engines on the front and the back of the train
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Kaosfinik writes:
Trains can reverse....
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
SlipUpSpecialist writes:
C'mon thekkers, if you are going to read a "fantasy book" at least have a little bit of creativity and an imagination.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
@ssKicker writes:
They have flying cars and broom-sticks. Lighten up, you guys!
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Freezy writes:
I went to New York, and the trains there go forward and reverse, because the track they're on isn't connected one end of the track to the other like a loop. They can't get off the tracks and turn around.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
heeheecunnings writes:
Also, I don't get your drift, thekkers. Explain it in everyday terms for me, please.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Hexadeltahedron writes:
Most Trains have engines in the front and in the back.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Matrix3311 writes:
what's to say that the track doesn't immediately curve and then merge into itself again?
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Mr. Music writes:
In "Prisoner of Azkaban", they DID mention a spell to lift things into the air and move them... They could've just took the engine off, hovered it to the front, put it down, and did the same thing after the school year to get back. ANYONE EVER THINK OF THAT OBVIOUS SPELL!!!
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
acutekid writes:
The train (The Hogwarts Express) doesn't even have an entrance to leave it is just a flat wall, it could go in a loop for all JK Rowling cares the "Muggles" aren't going to see it its magic its kind of what the whole book is about. I guess your going to explain how an extra train is going to fit in a crowded train station too??? this train can go through walls and other trains too. GEE!!! Laura
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Lara writes:
Well, he could have known that the train was that kind without even looking at the name?!?! Or at some train stations they have a special train rail, where you can turn around, maybe that happened?
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
WPTrack writes:
I live in New York, and trains definitely go in reverse. It doesn't matter where the engine is!
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Bman writes:
maybe, the train had only one compartment and an engine so it all fit on the platform. The compartment could have had the spell they used on the tents in the triwizard tournament, or the trunk in there car
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
TxChick04 writes:
what do you mean it's repeated on the cover? It's not on my cover (American version)
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Cougarfang writes:
hey Mr. Music, lift the train in the middle of all those MUGGLES? you'd have to lift it further than the heads of all the wizards on the platform or risk beheading them, and perhaps the "anti-muggle" spell can't reach that far... even if it did reach far enough, it would take a tremendous amount of energy...
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
bren2000 writes:
I have travelled on VIA rail so many times that it's not funny! Trains do have engines at the back and front and they can go in reverse.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Lilly writes:
I went to Kings Cross station when I was in London, and it's true that that's how the train should go, but come on! It's a fiction fantasy book, it really doesn't matter.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Marian Witham writes:
Kings Cross is not in New York.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Whizy writes:
Yeah...hmmm...Harry potter IS classified as FANTASY, right?!
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
PImpernelPippin writes:
Good lord.... Didn't any of you think of the Knight Bus, where muggle things like HOUSES and MAILBOXES jump out of the way? It could be like that. Honestly, beheading the muggles.... the magic world is much more cautious than that. And did you ever stop to consider that maybe, just maybe, there is more than one version of the book, and therefore more than one version of the cover?
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Mr. Prickle (no pun intended) writes:
When they say steam engine, they mean the whole train. Think about about that childrens book, "The Little Steam Engine That Could".
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
lara writes:
Actually, when JK Rowling writes "engine" it's British English for "train" it doesn't literally mean the engine of the train it means the whole thing.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
yanscott writes:
Acutekid, please note that the slipup is not about the platform wall, so your comment, while correct, does not seem that relevant. As for the rest: yes, Harry Potter IS a fantasy book. However, it is supposed to be at least semi realistic in all things not magic. For example, entering a train, which might be on a hidden platform, but is still a train.
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes
Juash writes:
If you have only one track, you don't lift the train up and turn it around when you go backwards. It's like a car. Do you do a U-Turn in your driveway to get out, or do you just throw it in reverse?
15 of 6576 found this helpful. Did you? Yes

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