A STEAM locomotive built for speed which spent much of its long and distinguished career hauling expresses on the East Coast line, made history at the weekend.

Sir Nigel Gresley – an A4 Pacific whose sister engine, Mallard, entered the record books as the world's fastest steam locomotive – visited Whitby on Saturday and Sunday.

The locomotive, one of the most elegant engines to grace Britain's railways, made its first journey to the port via the Esk Valley Railway from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Pickering.

NYMR general manager Philip Benham said: "This is a very important weekend in railway history. It will be the first and last time that Whitby will be able to welcome an iconic engine of this type. The town is well used to welcoming historic ships but on this occasion it was iron and steam that graced the centre of Whitby over the weekend."

Sir Nigel Gresley's trip helps to spotlight the timetable of steam trains to and from Whitby, with 540 return services being run this summer linking the moors and coast, helping to take visitors to Whitby and enabling those staying in the town to take the train through the moors.

The chairman of the Moors and Coast Tourism Partnership, Clive Rowe-Evans, said it was an excellent example of two of Yorkshire's finest attractions coming together to spotlight what the area had to offer – "a wonderful heritage railway which received the Moors and Coast Visitor Attraction of the Year Award 2007 and a superb coastal resort which has just been awarded the Best Day Out Award from Visit Britain."

Built in 1937, Sir Nigel Gresley was the 100th Gresley Pacific to be built by the London and North Eastern Railway and was named in honour of her designer.

The locomotive, which was given the British Railways number 60007, was saved from being scrapped in 1966.

Since Sir Nigel Gresley returned to traffic in August 2006 it has run over 12,000 miles on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

On July 5 – to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Mallard's record-breaking run on July 3, 1938 – a two- day steam hauled excursion is planned from London to Edinburgh and back to London using all three A4s certified to run on main lines. Sir Nigel Gresley will operate the first leg from King's Cross to York.