Hogsmeade station

The railway station that serves both the town of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts School.

A “tiny, dark platform” where the Hogwarts Express ends its journey north from Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters (PS6). The station is located near the lake, and from there a road extends around the lake to Hogwarts Castle (PA5, GF11). The station is actually quite a distance from the town itself, being on the opposite side of the Hogwarts grounds (map by JKR on the PA/dvd).

• Built in the early 1800s when the Ministry of Magic began using the Hogwarts Express, a steam engine train acquired by Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol (1827-1835) for the safe transport of Hogwarts students. Overnight the Muggle villagers of Hogsmeade realized they suddenly had a train station, while confused Muggle railway workers in Crewe suddenly felt as if they had misplaced a train thanks to Memory Modifying Charms and the "largest mass Concealment Charm [ever] performed in Britain" (Pm).
• First Years reach the station and immediately get into the small boats for the ride across the Lake (PS6, OP10). Harry could smell the pine trees near the lake from the platform (OP10).
• "Horseless" carriages pulled line up along a "mud track" near the Station for the students of Year Two - Year Seven (PS6, GF11). In his Fifth Year, Harry realized the carriages were pulled by Thestrals, creatures he could see because he suddenly understood the reality of Cedric Diggory's death the year before ( OP10).