TRAIN TIME: Back to Hogwarts Lionel Set #2523140 Hogwarts Express LionChief Set with Bluetooth (2025) Pt 2 Hall Class 4-6-0 engine 'Hogwarts Castle'

On the one hand I love starter sets. They include everything one needs to run trains, like right now! On the other hand, if you've been in the hobby for any amount of time, it's likely you already have track and transformer, and only really need the engine with it's controller and the cars. Also, set boxes take up a lot of space.  Before we get started I have to make a correction.

***CORRECTION***

I had referred to the engine as a 'Mills' Class 4-6-0. However, it appears as if the real engine used in the Harry Potter films, upon which Lionel's is based, is actually a 'Hall' Class. It was built in 1937 at Swindon Works for the Great Western Railway and was designated '5972 Olton Hall'.

Ed

LionChief engines are equipped with circuitry which is managed by handheld controllers like this. Each controller has graphics on the front which identifies the engine it controls. However, you can also use the LionChief app for your smartphone.

Courtesy Lionel

The road number on the side of the Hogwarts Express engine is '5972'

Here's the LionChief app on my phone. Once you turn on the track power, the engine will make a series of  'bird chirp' sounds while it searches for a controller to pair with. Bring up the app on your phone. The app will display the road number for the engine it will link up to, in this case '5972'. Link the app with the engine and you're all set. 

Mills Class 4-6-0 engine.

Unlike American steam engines, many British engines have names. We tend to call engines by their railroad and road number. The best example I can think of is the Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy ('Big Boy' was the name given to the 4-8-8-4 class of engines, not the name of the individual machine). 

The semi-circular herald above the steam chest and middle drivers says 'HOGWARTS CASTLE'. 

NEW SERIES: Forces of Valor (FOV) / Unimax Deep Dive: Pt 1 Getting Started (Again)

Man, I don't even know where to start with this one. Back in the early 2000s I was hot-&-heavy into playsets and 1/32 scale armor, aircraft, and Little Green Army Men. I was buying original Marx, New Marx, 21st Century, New Ray, Forces of Valor, and other stuff wherever I could find them. Trips to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Toys 'R Us, and local hobby shops netted so many cool toys it was pathetic. Unfortunately, this was years before I started my blog and many of the boxes were tossed. Fast forward to last year, and what I had out in The Cave were plastic tote bins full of Little Green Army Men. Some of the larger stuff were already out of the boxes and fortunately those boxes were saved.

February 2018 Posts

Back in 2018 I managed to blog what I called the 'personality' figures from Forces of Valor / Unimax. There were five figures named after specific individuals:

-

 #99001 Lt Johnson

#99002 SSgt Rizzo

#99003 Sgt Valero

#99004 PFC Cooper

#99005 PFC Reynolds

Next, last October (Oct 2025) I blogged a few pieces of armor and aircraft. Then I stopped. Why?...

... because I knew the next wave of FOV posts would take a lot of effort - a whole lot of picture taking and research.

October-November 2025 Posts

These I still have:

 #81003 M16 U.S. Multiple Gun Motor Carriage Normandy 1944

#82006 German Zündapp KS 750 & Side Car Eastern Front 1943

This Flyer which I now call 'FOV Flyer v.1' 

(I have since found two others that are different)

These were sold off years ago 

(which I absolutely regret now). 

Fortunately I still had photos of the packaging, taken to prepare the items for sale.

 #86000 Bf-109G Eismmer

#80024 U.K. Spitfire MK IX No. 134 Wing Normandy 1944

After the Oct-Nov 2025 short wave of posts I decided that enough is enough and I had to get off my keester and do something about all these figures and pieces. I scoured all of the tote bins out in The Cave with Little Green Army men in them and started the sorting process with the unpainted toys sorted into smaller bins by manufacturer first.

Next came the painted figures. After a month or so (I'm a slow worker) the 21st Century and FOV toys were sorted, but that still left me with several tote bins of figures and accessories. Tomorrow, we'll look at the investigative process needed to make sense out of FOV's 'system'.

TRAIN TIME: Back to Hogwarts Lionel Set #2523140 Hogwarts Express LionChief Set with Bluetooth (2025) Pt 1

While I haven't featured any Harry Potter stuff in a while I have been busy taking photos. A part of this year's tax refund went to buy the last ready-to-run train set on my bucket list: Lionel's #2523140 Harry Potter Hogwarts Express LionChief Set with Dementors Coach cataloged in 2025.

This is one of several Harry Potter themed train sets offered by Lionel. I posted the smaller Lionel battery operated Hogwarts Express #7-11981 back on 29 Nov 2024, which was cataloged in 2022. It was not only smaller than the set we'll look at today but was also an inaccurate representation of the screen shown version being an entirely different class of locomotive. What we'll be looking at now is more accurate, larger, and full of features.

The various Lionel Harry Potter Hogwarts Express train sets are among the most popular fantasy schemes produced by Lionel, along with their line of Polar Express trains. They were offered as battery operated as well as conventionally run trains ('conventional' meaning the train was controlled by a transformer with either levers or dials) and finally transitioning to command control and finally to Bluetooth technology. The first set came out in 2008 and there have been six iterations of this set since then. Blunami as a control medium has been a hot topic for the past year and who knows, maybe the technology will eventually find its way into Lionel's products.

Hogwarts Express Sets Through The Years

(All sets include an oval of track)

It's a bit tricky finding dates and set numbers for these but I believe the following is correct however, if you believe there are any errors let me know.

2008: Harry Potter Hogwarts Express #7-11080 G-Gauge Battery Operated with engine and 2 cars (Coaches #99719, 99720), The engine is controlled by a hand held remote and features steam.

2013: Harry Potter Hogwarts Express #7-11020 O-Gauge Conventional operation with engine and 3 cars (Coaches #99718, 99719, 99720) 

2016: Harry Potter Hogwarts Express #6-83620 O-Gauge LionChief with engine and 3 cars (Coaches #99718, 99719, 99720) 

2017: Harry Potter Hogwarts Express #6-83972 LionChief Bluetooth App with engine and 3 cars (Coaches #99718, 99719, 99720) 

2022: Harry Potter Hogwarts Express #7-11981 Ready to Play Mini O-gauge (S-gauge bodies on O-gauge trucks) Battery Operated with engine and 2 cars (Coaches #99719, 99720) 

2025: Harry Potter Hogwarts Express #2523140 Express LionChief / Bluetooth Set with engine and 3 cars (Coaches #99717 Dementor Coach, 99719, 99720) 

As technologies change, so have the train sets changed to keep up with them. Conventionally-controlled trains are the type you may be more familiar with: track, engine and cars, with the engine being controlled by a separate transformer. Then, came command control systems. While Lionel offers a couple of different command-&-control options, their starter sets were converted to the LionChief system. The LionChief system consists of a 'wall-wart' a fixed voltage transformer that plugs directly into the wall socket, and a hand-held controller. Speed and other features (bell, horn, whistle, crew talk, etc.) are controlled by the hand-held remote. All the functions are controlled by circuit cards inside the engine or tender.

With the advent of Bluetooth technology, that feature was added as well. What does that do? By downloading the LionChief app on your smart phone, you can now control your train via Bluetooth technology directly from your phone! The app also has more features than are available on the hand-held controller. 

There are also five additional separate sale cars lettered for:

-Hogwarts

-Gryffindor

-Hufflepuff

-Ravenclaw

-Slytherin

Let's take a quick look at what's in the box, and I'll post photo essays for the engine and cars in separate installments

Ed

Set #2523140 Hogwarts Express

Layer upon layer of toy train goodness

The big box at the top contains an oval of Lionel's Fastrack

Set contents

At the far lower left is the wall-wart type transformer.

Courtesy Lionel

Each handheld remote included in sets or separate sale engines, is individually marked for the engine it comes with as each remote is electronically tied to that engine.

Courtesy Lionel

My photos

Mills Class 4-6-0 engine

#99717 Dementor Coach with sounds

#99719 Coach

#99720 Combine

No. 216A Moguras (Unk Mfr - Hong Kong)

Unlike the other two kits posted the past two days (Vanguard and Echo Car) for which I could find no real references, the Moguras is quite a popular sci-fi vehicle and there are several nicely detailed (and expensive) kits out there of this tunnel boring tank in various configurations. This measures 4" (10,16cm) L x 1.75" (4,44cm) W x 1.625" (4,12cm) H.

Ed

BTW - even though it looks as though my photographs came out blurry, this is actually how the artwork looks on the box - blurry!

Shown here with a Tri-ang 1/72 scale spaceman for size comparison.