Harry Potter
King’s Cross Station played host to the first and second films in the Harry Potter series based on JK Rowling’s successful books.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (released 2001) was filmed at King’s Cross Station in 2000. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) was filmed there in 2002.
The movies, directed by Chris Columbus, are about a young boy destined to be a wizard. The scenes shot at King’s Cross Station for the first film involve Harry Potter and his new chums, Hermione and Ron, running through a wall onto the now famous platform 9¾ and departing on a steam train for Hogwarts School of Wizardry.
The King’s Cross employees helped the film by facilitating the arrival of the steam train and superficially altering various interior structures so that the station looked like the descriptions in the books.
Network Rail has erected a permanent tribute to the Harry Potter films at King’s Cross station. It features a luggage trolley embedded in the ‘magic’ wall under the Platform 9¾ sign.
Filming
Network Rail offers unique opportunities for filming and photography at some of the UK’s best-known travel landmarks.
Filming & photography requests
Network Rail stations and properties have featured in news stories, feature films, television series, documentaries, newspaper & magazine articles, advertisements, TV commercials and fashion shoots.
We welcome requests from film crews and photographers and consider each request on an individual basis.
We do ask that you understand that we are running an operational railway and can only grant requests if they fall within our safety guidelines.
Network Rail’s stations
We can help you if you want to film or photograph any of the 18 stations that we manage directly. For general information on each station, including maps, click on the station link
- Birmingham New Street
- Cannon Street
- Charing Cross
- Edinburgh Waverley
- Euston
- Fenchurch Street
- Gatwick
- Glasgow Central
- King’s Cross
- Leeds
- Liverpool Lime Street
- Liverpool Street
- London Bridge
- Manchester Piccadilly
- Paddington
- St Pancras
- Victoria
- Waterloo
Rates
Filming rates at Network Rail’s managed stations vary. Please see the information on process & fees to find out how we can help you.
Access
For safety reasons, we do not allow any additional lighting or flash photography on station concourses or platforms and can only provide access to our stations at the following times:
Monday to Friday: 10:30am – 3:30pm and 7:30pm onwards
Saturday & Sunday: all day
Requests from TV news channels for filming at our stations should be addressed to the Network Rail Press Office.
On the network
Network Rail is responsible for the whole of the railway infrastructure in England, Scotland & Wales. There are no fixed rules for access times for film & photography on the network and we will consider each request on an individual basis.
At other stations
The train operating companies manage the other 2,500 stations on Britain’s railway. If you would like to film or photograph at one of these stations, you should contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950 to establish which appropriate train operating company to approach directly.