Hogwarts Express Passenger Car Variations

I'm not aware of any variations.  My set has the gray roofs, I purchased it about 4-5 years ago.  I'll be curious to see the answer to your question.

My first thought is the early non lionchief versions of the set might have had black roofs. The Lion Chief sets that I have seen including my own all have gray roofs. Didn't bother looking on the internet for pictures of both versions of the set, but that could be it. Otherwise, were they purchased new? Could it be a different roof was applied to them for some reason? Painted?  

My original set was not the Lion Chief but had the older  transformer. I purchased the cars second hand but they are in almost new condition and the roofs appear the original (not painted). They also have a bit more flexibility in how they are attached to the wheel trucks than my original cars. I will try to take a picture of the two different cars and post them.

John F

See the attached image. The Hogwarts passenger car on the left is the original car that came with my set and the black roofed car on the right is a recent purchase (used). Both cars are numbered 99718.

JohnF

I've never seen the black roofs before

Got me stumped. Personally I like the black better. If it were my set I would think about spraying the three riginal cars to match the new cars!