How would I create a custom list class in python?

Your can subclass list if your collection basically behaves like a list:

class MyCollection(list):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(MyCollection, self).__init__(args[0])

However, if your main wish is that your collection supports the iterator protocol, you just have to provide an __iter__ method:

class MyCollection(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self._data = [4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42]

    def __iter__(self):
        for elem in self._data:
            yield elem

This allows you to iterate over any instance of MyCollection.