THE 90th anniversary of one of the most iconic objects to be produced in Dursley was celebrated in record-breaking fashion over the weekend.

Hundreds of engine enthusiasts met at a campsite on the edge of town with their Lister D type engines to mark 90 years since the first engine rolled off the production line in October 1926.

Fred Lister, 87, the grandson of the company’s founder of R A Lister, met the 233 Lister D owners at Ashen Plains campsite on the edge of Dursley as they attempted to run their engines simultaneously and break a world record in the process.

Whether the previous record of 205 engines was broken will be confirmed by officials in the coming months.

John Leah, who organised the event, said that it was important to mark the anniversary of a piece of equipment that had been so important.

“What makes the D type so special is that it’s always been the underdog, it’s a humble engine but importantly it was very well engineered,” he told the Gazette.

“It could power anything and was an important piece of equipment for farmers before mains systems came online.

“This means that even now us enthusiasts are coming across engines that have been left abandoned for decades and fixing them up so that they run as good as new.”

About 250,000 of the engines had been produced by the time the very last one left the doors of the Dursley factory in 1962.

“The fact that 90 years down the line we are still able to run 233 of them at the same time is testament to how good the engine was,” Mr Leah added.

“Hopefully we will be able to mark the 100th anniversary in similar style.”
The Lister D type has become one of the most popular choices for engine enthusiasts and they can be bought for as little as £60-£70.

The gathering and record attempt was arranged by Mr Leah through a Lister D type Facebook page he runs and was the result of 18 months of preparation.

Enthusiasts from across the country, and even some from abroad, met to mark the milestone.