Taggers Hit Hogwart's Express

Graffiti artists have vandalized two of the railway carriages used in the Harry Potter films, causing up to $4,700 damage, police said Thursday.

The carriages were pulled by the Hogwart's Express in two films, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," but are now covered with green and silver spray-painted "tags."

"It is just mindless vandalism,'' said James Shuttleworth, chief operations officer for West Coast Railway Company which owns the train. "I don't think they were targeting Harry Potter.''

The carriages were in their shed in Scarborough, northeastern England, but the steam locomotive that pulls them in the film was safe in a different depot.

Police say the attack occurred at night, and were appealing for witnesses.

The train carriages are due to appear in the third Harry Potter film currently in production, and will be repainted their original maroon color.