The block doesn't eventually crack from thermal cycling?
It's not thermal cycling that gets Lister(oid) blocks - it's frost. And I suspect it mostly affects British engines which, having served their farms/homes for a lifetime, were then sadly neglected as progress brought mains electricity across the country, so one winter they just weren't drained, and the block blew out the first proper freezing night.
America didn't really get into the Listeroids until they were a "collectable", or at least a novelty engine. Back in the days when mains electricity was scarce, you guys had plenty of your own engines (which we Brits also look at with envious eyes, in these days of collecting old engines); most of yours were gasoline engines though, we had many more diesel engines, due to the wider availability of "agricultural diesel" aka red diesel (because of the red dye they put in it), which attracted much less tax than road diesel (aka DERV - Diesel Engine Road Vehicle).
Can't help you with costs, I'm afraid, your EPA has mucked all that up.