William Lister (of Hope Town)
William Lister of Hope Town, Darlington. These works were close to the W. and A. Kitching Hope Town Foundry
See William Lister
Four locomotives were built for the Stockton and Darlington Railway
1841 William Lister's Middlesborough(sic) locomotive travelled 3,665 miles in 27 days of working plus...[1]
1850 Sale. Executors of the late William Lister. All the stock-in-trade, machinery and other effects. Also the extensive premises connected to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. More details.[2]
1853 John Harris leased a part of the works of William Lister (of Hope Town)
Thomas Summerson was appointed manager, and later was taken into partnership.
A large trade was done in cast iron chairs and wheels. Mr. Summerson, in conjunction with Mr. Harris, introduced and patented a railway chair with a wood cushion under the rail, and also a special form of chilled cast iron wheel for chaldron wagons.
Mr. Summerson also invented a new crossing, and patented a hot-air cupola for economising fuel.
Between 1863-1869 built about twelve locomotives.
'At Lister's Works, Darlington, England, some articles required turning in the lathe, and cast steel could not be made hard enough to cut them. One man proposed cast metal [cast iron] tools. He was laughed at, of course, but his plan had to be tried. Well, cast metal tools were tried, with points chilled, and they cut when cast steel tools were of no use.'[3]. Another source [4] states that the workpieces were chilled iron rolls, and that the source of the information was 'Moore's Guide'. Was this William Lister's works?
- Note: In 1889 a statement, to the effect that locomotives Middlesbro, Ocean and Etherley were directly copied from the Tory locomotive, was made by William Jackson and William Mather who were workman employed at Lister's at that time.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive by Robert Young. Published 1923.
- British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816