J.K. Rowling said she first conceived Harry Potter during a train journey in 1990.
According to Rowling’s account, the idea came to her while she was travelling from Manchester to London. She imagined a boy who did not know he was a wizard and began developing the characters and setting in her mind. The journey became one of the best-known origin stories in modern children’s literature.
The first Harry Potter novel was not published immediately. Rowling spent years developing the manuscript, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone appeared in Britain in 1997. The interval between the idea and publication included personal changes, extensive writing, and attempts to find a publisher.
The train detail is also fitting because trains became an important recurring element in the series, especially the Hogwarts Express and its departure from London’s King’s Cross station.