Lister Blackstone 4wDM SL3 12.75hp 1800rpm 0-4-0 cabbed diesel locomotive 44052 was built at Dursley, Gloucestershire in 1958. 44052 was the prototype for its class, though only one appears to have been built. No trace can be found in the Lister archives,although it does appearon the front of Lister Blackstone publicity material.

The locomotive was purchased by Beeston Urban District Council (near Nottingham) for use at its townsewage works. It was re-enginedcirca 1963 and then used infrequently until sold into preservation.

44052 was withdrawn fron service in the late 1960's and purchased for preservation by John MacDougall who moved it to the Long Eaton Light Railway, where it was restored to working condition and used to haul demonstration trains. 44052 became L.E.L.R No.2 and was given the punning name "Alister".

The West Park Railway (or Wilsthorpe Light Railway) was built and run by a group of enthusiasts as an off-shoot of the Long Eaton and District Model Railway Club around 1964. It was built as a nominal 2ft gauge line and extended for a length of about 400 yards on West Park, Long Eaton, by agreement of the (then) Long Eaton Urban District Council.

Funding was through an ingenious scheme whereby residents of Long Eaton were invited to subscribe 5/- (25p) in advance of the scheme, being given a transferable voucher giving entitlement to five free journeys when the railway was opened.

Original motive power was a Ruston diesel locopurchased from British Gypsum who had previously used it on the narrow gauge industrial system in one of their mines near Gotham, Notts.

Original rolling stock consisted of two open "Manriders" long wheelbase four-wheeler steel-frame vehicles withfour compartments, each seating fouron wooden latted seats. These were purchased from the National Coal Board at Morton colliery near Chesterfield, Derbys.

Rails were bought second hand from British Rail H-Stores, on the site of Railway Technical Centre and also from a scrapyard at Loughborough.

Sleepers and ballast were bought second hand from British Rail, the sleepers being cut in two.

Ticketing was by proper "Edmondson" card type tickets (printed by Hassell & Lucking of Long Eaton) using a second hand dating press and ticket racks bought from British Rail in a sale of surplus materials.

In 1977 the remants of the LELR group moved their residue equipment (and people) to the Bala Lake Railway, the 2ft gauge West Park Railway having folded around 1970, when it was converted to 7.25inch gauge. The remants included Alister and together they formed the basis of the Llanuwchllyn Railway Museum Association.

As Alister was in running order, it was used by the LMRA for shunting around Llanuwchllyn yard and for occassional trips to Flag Station and Bala during the Associations Gala weekends.

In 1985 the loco changed hands and was bought by another BLR Society member Andrew Munden.

By 1987, Andrew was planning his wedding and aiming to set up home in Greater London and started to search for a more local (to the happy couples new home) location for Alister.

Eventually the Kew Bridge Living Steam Museum at Brentford(then the home of Hunslet steam loco Lilla)agreed to become the new home for Alister and an unrestored manrider Andrew also owned. So it was that in June 1987 both vehicles and a Hudson skip were moved to Kew Bridge.

{flv}alister{/flv}
Alister at Kew Bridge Steam Museum

The KBLSM has a 2ftgauge line of some 400 yards in length around the site. The line is run by the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Trust and is the current home base of Hunslet0-4-0ST Cloister.

On arrival a complete overhaul was carried out to 44052 with the intention of getting it ready for their annual Gala weekend in November. During the overhaul Alister was outshopped in the correct shade of green paint originally applied by Lister Blackstone in 1958.

Subsequently the manrider has been completely rebuilt by adding new framing, seats, roof and air braking to form a small passenger coach capable of being used by the resident steam and diesel locomotives at Kew Bridge, and is the vehicle shown with Alister in the colour photos accompanying this article.