VANDALS smashed their way into a heritage railway carriage in a rampage of destruction.

They caused damage estimated at hundreds of pounds during the incident, at Oxenhope's Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (K&WVR) station.

The three men were captured on security camera footage, which has been passed to the police.

The trio struck early on Sunday morning.

Michael Tarran, a K&WVR director, said: "The silly thing about it is that there wasn't even anything in the carriage worth stealing. I don't know what they hoped to achieve by doing this. It's beyond belief to be honest."

Mr Tarran said the vandals, who he described as young men in their 20s, arrived at the station at about 5am.

Two were on foot and one was riding a yellow-coloured bicycle which may have come from a Tour de France display. One of the men was wearing a high-visibility jacket.

They initially tried to break into one of the passenger carriages parked in a siding by throwing stones at its windows, but these bounced off.

Mr Tarran added: "They found larger pieces of metal and threw them through the windows so that they could get through and into the carriage. They smashed two windows.

"They also ripped off a board at one end of the carriage and broke that as well.

"Once they got in they set off five fire extinguishers inside the coach. They threw two of those into the river – we've managed to retrieve these.

"It's just wanton vandalism. We've had to write off two of the fire extinguishers, because they are damaged, and the others will need to be re-filled.

"The cost will probably run into the hundreds of pounds."

He said the disruption inflicted by the attack caused delays to the railway's services later that day.

The attraction has been targeted by vandals many times before. In April of this year the railway was hit by the theft of six of its benches, which were stolen from outside Ingrow West Station.

Responding to the latest incident, a West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the suspects entered the Oxenhope railway station yard between midnight and 5.45am last Sunday, then broke into one of the carriages.

He asked witnesses or anyone with information to contact the police on the non-emergency 101 number and ask for PC 2048 Irving.