The mechanical star of the new Harry Potter TV series will soon be performing a leading role for Halloween season at a heritage railway. Wightwick Hall, a steam locomotive, has been pulling the fictional Hogwarts Express for the filming of the HBO production.

Later on Wednesday, it will begin its journey by road from its home at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre to the Bluebell Railway in East Sussex. Steve Green, general manager at the centre, said the money received from loaning it to producers had been a "lifeline" in preserving the engine. "It will get a future and it will be available for generations to come," he added.

Wightwick Hall was built at Swindon Works in 1948 and withdrawn from service in 1964, but it was salvaged from a scrapyard in Barry Island, South Wales, in 1978. Volunteers have been restoring it at the railway centre near the village of Quainton, and it has just finished filming scenes for the Harry Potter series, due for release in 2027, at the Windsor Estate in Berkshire.

"These are very expensive machines to put back together again and it took tens of years to do it," explained John Hatton, who helped raise funds for the restoration. He said it costs in the region of £300,000, every 10 years, to keep it on the tracks. The engine will be loaned to Bluebell for several months, including Halloween-themed events, but children got one last chance to ride it in Buckinghamshire on Sunday.

Image: Buckinghamshire Railway Centre