The platform gave access to the Hogwarts Express on Sept. 1 to take trainee wizards to Hogwarts Academy and presumably provided for their return journey. The platform of course does not exist.

However, with a rare flash of corporate jocundity, the station authorities nodded to the bestselling series by embedding half a luggage trolley in the brick wall through which, in the story, passengers for the train had to walk.

What does very much exist in the real world is the station clock that passengers for Hogwarts glanced at to check the time.

A classic projector clock, one that is mounted so that it stands proud of a wall and that appeared in the Harry Potter films, the clock now sits in the factory of Smith of Derby waiting for refurbishment. Over two meters across, this and many other of the style were used as standard timepieces by railway companies in Victorian times. It became axiomatic that if travelers wanted to greet friends, it would be “under the station clock.”

While the fantasy that is Harry Potter rolls on, the clock, tucked away in storage at Smith’s factory, the very real clock stands among other horological curiosities as a point of passing interest to the occasional visitor who is lucky enough to tour the 156-year-old company.