system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Harry Potter] How did students get to Hogwarts before the invention of the steam engine?
gpt
Prior to the Hogwarts Express, they'd all arrive individually by whatever means of conveyance they chose. Broomstick, Portkey, attempts at Apperation, or by cart or carriage were all common.

The issue was that as Britain faced drastic population growth and increased urbanization among both Muggle and Magical populations going into the 19th century, the movements of hundreds of students to and from rural Scotland multiple times a year was increasingly risking exposure.

However, people travelling to or from London is much less likely to attract notice, and they'd blend in with the movements of Muggle students travelling to their own boarding schools. From King's Cross, the Hogwarts Express could then travel along a prepared route that could be much more readily hidden or disguised as needed to their final destination.