I recently spent a week in London, as one does. As I walked through the King’s Cross train station, it struck me: if anything, it should be track 8 3/4 and not 9 3/4. Let me explain.
In case you have been living under a rock: in the Harry Potter book series, the protagonists run through a wall to reach the “hidden” platform 9 3/4, where the Hogwarts Express departs.
In real life, King’s Cross consists of a large, magnificent main hall housing tracks 0 to 8. Yes, numbering starts at 0. Then, there are tracks 9 and 10. They are a bit shorter and live in their own hall sharing a wall with the main building. I assume that these two tracks have been added later.
Main hall of King's Cross station at night
In order to get to tracks 9 and 10, you have to exit through the fare gates, walk through the station hall – a recent construction with a large round roof – and re-enter through a different set of fare gates.
King's Cross (left) and St Pancras (right) from above. The round structure is the roof of the station hall.
Next to track 9 and 10, there is a Harry Potter shop selling souvenirs and a photo point that has a perpetual line of people waiting. There is half a luggage cart stuck to the wall, they hand you a scarf and a wand, and your friends take a photo of you pretending to be a Hogwarts student. Cringe.
Tracks 9 and 10 share a common platform
But the thing is this: we all agree (I hope) that track 9 3/4 should be located between 9 and 10. But tracks 9 and 10 share a common platform with no wall whatsoever! The wall is between track 9, in the smaller hall, and track 8 in the big hall. Thus, the Hogwarts Express should really be departing from track 8 3/4.