One of the pleasures of any hobby is sharing a common interest with others. The relative portability of the smaller locos in the Moseley Railway Trust's collection means that it is occasionally possible to take them to other lines in the UK for a little visit. This is exactly what happened with Lister Blackstone 52610, which visited the Amberley Working Museum for their Railway Gala over the weekend of 13 & 14 July. It was not alone. There were no fewer than seven other visiting Listers - from as far afield as Gloucester and Ripon, North Yorkshire; these joined the museum's resident pair of such locos and a loco on site under restoration for its owner, making a total of eleven. Listers are characterful little locos, not least because they tended to lurk in out-of-the-way places, like small peatworks and the like. Their low power (around 8hp) meant that they did not get used at many large works or systems. These small works typically used one or two locos - leading to a debate about whether this event represented the greatest ever gathering of Listers in one place. One wonders how many were on the production line at Lister's factory in Dursley, Gloucs, at any one time? All in all, a splendid event, and all credit to Amberley Rail Group. More info can be found here and here. The photos show the Moseley Team gathered with LB52610, and then the world record breaking use of no less than nine (yes, count 'em) Listers on a passenger train on the Sunday. We won't be attempting anything quite like that at the MRT open days at Apedale on September 13 & 14 (details here) but you will be able to come along and see LB52610 and all its friends. As ever, contact us here. 
