Fresh from seeing his Hogwarts Express rescue The Flying Scotsman, the young wizard bewitched hundreds of adoring fans at the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Harry, alias Daniel Radcliffe, 15, was joined in Leicester Square by the film’s other young stars Emma Watson, 14, and Rupert Grint, 15, and some slightly older ones, namely Gary Oldman and Michael Gambon, as well as J.K Rowling.

Twenty-four hours earlier, the steam engine used in the films as the Hogwarts Express, had enjoyed its own, albeit unscheduled, moment in the limelight, as saviour of the celebrated Scotsman. The locomotive, which is usually kept in the National Railway Museum in York, was rushed to Doncaster after the Scotsman broke down. It had been due to make a ceremonial entry at Railfest, a nine-day jamboree at the museum, but was halted by a fault with the boiler. The Hogwarts Express was stoked up in the middle of the night and intervened in time to haul a full rake of coaches to its destination.

For the Harry Potter cast at the European premiere in London, it was also a case of full steam ahead as they signed autographs and chatted to fans in the huge crowd. Amy Sanmann, 20, visiting from Oklahoma, said: “I’ve read all the books and it’s really exciting. This is where the books are set so it’s more real and special to be here.”

The film is expected to match the success of its two predecessors, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which made £64 million and £54 million respectively at the British box office.

Warner Brothers, the distributor, is so worried about pirate copies of the film flooding the market that it has supplied cinemas with night-vision goggles to spot people using camcorders.

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James Christopher, the film critic of The Times, gave the film a four star out of five rating and was particularly effusive about the decision to appoint the Mexican Alfonso Cuarón as director. “Cuarón’s appointment to this franchise is the most inspired Hollywood gamble of the year,” he wrote. “The change of mood and purpose is palpable.”

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