32 Lister Blackstone 52885 of 1963

P4160703
Soon after arrival at Apedale

R.A.Lister & Co Ltd was a long-lived company famous for producing a huge number of small engines; these engines were applied to lightweight locomotives. Later-built locomotives were identified as Lister Blackstone, reflecting a merger which had occurred during the 1930s.

No.32 was delivered new to George Ward (Moxley) Ltd at their Baggott’s Bridge Clayworks works at Darlaston in the West Midlands. This company made, amongst other things, plant pots and similar clay moulded products. The narrow gauge railway brought the clay from the pit to the works. Eventually, the company moved over to using injection-moulded plastic to create its products, and 1978 saw the end of the railway. No.32 was stored in the works until September 1990, when it moved to the Moseley Tramway. After the school railway closed in 1998, the loco spent a period at Threlkeld quarry. July 2011 saw the loco move to Weston Wharf, near Oswestry. No.32 arrived at Apedale on 31 October 2015.