Hogwarts Express Rescues Stranded Family

And you thought the heroics of Harry Potter were only a work of fiction.

No, the Hogwarts Express train is real and it just rescued a family that got stranded in rural Scotland.

Okay, okay, it’s not really real. The Hogwarts Express that we see in the movies is actually the Jacobite, a steam train on the West Highland Railway Line that traverses a ridiculously scenic stretch of Scotland through the Highlands between Fort William and Mallaig.

Along the way, the Jacobite passes over the dramatic Glenfinnan Viaduct, and it’s this crossing that was immortalized in a handful of Harry Potter films. Taking a journey on the “Hogwarts Express” has become a must-do for fans of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding tales and, well, anyone who appreciates a breathtaking train journey.

But back to the nice family in distress.

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Jon and Helen Cluett and their four children were staying in a remote bothy (hut) when they discovered that their canoe—which up until this point had been their only form of transportation—had been swept downriver.

Of their remote location in Scotland, Mr. Cluett told the BBC:

"You can get to it by quite an arduous walk in or you can paddle for 10 minutes in a canoe across the loch from the road. We had a canoe so we paddled across the loch to the bothy."

The key phrase there is “had a canoe”.

When they woke up one morning during their stay in the hut, they realized it had been washed downstream.

What they had left were two fairly bad options for getting out of there: hike several hours over rain-soaked—and possibly dangerous—boggy terrain or trek alongside a set of train tracks.

Not ideal.

That’s when Mr. Cluett decided to phone local police and mountain rescue to see if they had any insider information of the area that could help them out of their tricky spot.

While they didn’t have any silver bullet for their situation, they had another solution altogether: hitch a ride on the Hogwarts Express.

The famous steam train was the next regularly scheduled locomotive on the nearby line, and the family was instructed to hurry over to the tracks to await a rescue. Naturally, the family’s children were thrilled at this fantastical development.

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Of the excitement that followed, Mr. Cluett said: "We threw all our stuff into some bags and boxes and ran out of the door of the bothy at the same time as the train is coming around the tracks. The train is getting closer, we're running down, stuff bouncing everywhere, big smiles on the kids’ faces. It all started to be fun at that point.

"I'm slightly sad because I'd lost my boat—but the kids, when they saw the steam train coming, all sadness left their little faces and was replaced by excitement and fun—just the real joy of having an adventure and having the train stop right next to them".

The Hogwarts Express dropped them off at the next stop, before presumably continuing on its journey to the world-famous school of witchcraft and wizardry. Or Mallaig.