Look what has just arrived in the saleroom.
Part Four of the late Les Burford, Oxfordshire Stationary Engine Collection. To include R. A. Lister & Co. Ltd, Dursley, England stationary engines, Chester Milling Machine, Myford Lathes and more . . . . . . . for Auction Wednesday 11th May. Catalogue on-line from Friday 6th May.
R. A. Lister and Company was founded in Dursley, Gloucestershire, England, in 1867 by Sir Robert Ashton Lister (1845–1929), to produce agricultural machinery. He first exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. Petrol driven engines saw an appearance from 1907 with diesel engines coming into their own from 1929. By 1936 R. A. Lister produced 600 engines across a range of 80 different sizes and types of diesel and petrol models, most of which were small (around 1.5 to 3 h. p). These could be bought as stand alone or to power a complementary range of pumps, churns, cream separators, auto trucks, generating plant and sheep shearing equipment.
The company headquarters were in an early 16th-century Priory building in Dursley. In the nearby valley was located a foundry, together with a number of other workshops necessary for the production of engines and the various other products offered, including a machining shop, capstan lathe shop, engine assembly lines, and a coopers' shop. Many goods were shipped out from the nearby railway station, which was located on land leased from Lister.
R. A. Lister and Company ceased production in 2014, however many of these engines are still in use today across the globe.
