Lister Engine Dating Guide

A detailed dating guide for identifying year of manufacture of Lister engines made from 1909 to the 1970’s.

The first section on this page gives dates for Lister engines made up to 1952, below this you will find details on how to date engines from 1952 to the 1970’s.

Lister Engine Build Dates from 1909 to 1952

This table gives a rough guide to dating Lister engines up to 1952 by serial number. It is important to note that there are conflicting numbers in the period from 1910 to 1951, there are also large gaps in this period where no accurate data was available for production dates, however we have used data supplied from a number of sources to help fill in these gaps as best as we can. Whilst this data can not be treated as accurate for production dates, it does give an approximate time period these engines were made.

Notes & Information About This Guide

• *Conflicting data from various sources on first engine number made in year.
• **Gives an approximate number using shipping and delivery dates (Very Rough Guide Only), these numbers will be constantly updated as new data arises.
• Petrol (Not D & F): Includes all petrol, paraffin (kerosene) and gas models in the H to R range and Junior models A, AK, B, BK. At engine number 79999 In March 1929 the numbers jumped to 200000, this was to prevent conflict with the Lister D’s engine numbering.
• Diesel CS Types: This column includes 3/1, 5/1, 10/2, JP1 & JP2. Types 3.5-1, 6-1, 12-2 & 21-2 are the same as types 3-1, 5-1, 10-2 & 18-2 at the higher speed.
• Diesel JP 27/3 38/4: 30-3 and 40-4 are the same as 27-3 and 38-4 at the higher speed.

Lister Engine Number Dating 1952 to the 1981

The following method is used to identify Lister Engines made from the 1^st of January 1952 (For D Type & A, AK, B & BK Juniors, see table details below on dating these later engines).

1. From the 1^st of January each year all engine numbers start back a 1 (One) for all engine types.
2. Model/type of engine – e.g. D, 6, JP, FR, SL, HA etc (Note that the CD & CE engines were not included in this numbering system).
3. Method of cooling, and if the engine is paraffin it will be indicated.
   • Hopper Cooled …. H
   • Radiator Cooled …. R
   • Tank Cooled …. Nothing
   • Paraffin Engines …. K
4. Reverse Rotation engines are indicated by the letter “Z” following the letter indicating cooling method.
5. After all of the above the figure will indicate year, this number is added to 1950 to give you year of manufacture e.g. the number 2 will be for 1952, the number 3 will be for 1953, the number 10 will be 1960, the number 11 will be 1961, the number 16 will be for 1966 and so on.

Examples:

• The 135^th Lister D type hopper cooled paraffin engine made in 1952 would look like: 135DKH2
• The 425^th Lister D type tank cooled petrol engine made in 1953 would look like: 425D3
• The 157^th Lister FR4 tank cooled reverse rotation made in 1962 would look like: 157FR4Z12

Lister D & Junior Engine Dating from 1952 to End