Porta and crew with RFIRT's Santa Cruz loco-1959

Livio Dante Porta (21 March 1922 – 10 June 2003) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

engineer. He is particularly remembered for his innovative modifications to existing locomotive systems in order to obtain better performance and energy efficiency, and reduced pollution. He developed the

Kylpor A Kylpor ejector is a type of steam locomotive exhaust system developed by noted Argentine locomotive engineer Livio Dante Porta. In a steam locomotive, draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), ...

and

Lempor The Lempor ejector is a steam locomotive exhaust system developed by noted Argentina, Argentine locomotive engineer Livio Dante Porta. The ejector's name is a portmanteau of the names of Porta and Belgian locomotive engineer Maurice Lemaître (mecha ...

exhaust systems. The Lemprex was under development at the time of his death.

Early years

Porta was born in

Paraná, Entre Ríos Paraná () is the capital city of the Argentine province Entre Ríos, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, opposite the city of Santa Fe, capital of the neighbouring Santa Fe Province. The city has a population of 247,863 (). Hi ...

, and studied civil

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, concluding his studies in 1946, at a time when steam was already giving way to diesel and electric locomotives in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Career

Steam locomotive Argentina designed by Porta - 1969

Naturally, Porta's first projects were in Argentina. Taking the work of Andre Chapelon in France as his starting point, he set out to demonstrate that the steam locomotive was far from reaching its maximum potential. His first locomotive project in 1948 took the remains of a

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

converting it into a 4-cylinder

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

4-8-0 named 'Presidente Peron'/'Argentina'. This machine, Porta's first project, still holds a number of locomotive efficiency records. Porta moved to

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

in 1957 as general manager of the Red de Ferrocarril Industrial de Rio Turbio coal railway ( Ramal Ferro Industrial Río Turbio) in Santa Cruz; his work allowed the steam locomotive fleet to remain in service for another 40 years. In 1960 he returned to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

to become head of

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of the ...

at the

National Institute of Industrial Technology The National Industrial Technology Institute ( es, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial), commonly known as INTI, is an Argentine federal agency in charge of the developing of Industrial technology. It was created in 1957. See also * INT ...

(INTI). His writings on steam technology, mostly unpublished, are voluminous. In early 1983 Porta and his family moved to the United States to work on steam locomotive development for the American Coal Enterprises project. This was the only time in his life he lived outside of Argentina for any great length of time. Porta was among the co-inventors listed for the project's patent which was filed in 1980 and issued in 1984. After the collapse of this project he returned to Argentina in 1986, with further work being undertaken in that country as well as in Brazil and Paraguay. In 1992 Porta was contracted by the Cuban government to implement an extensive project on rational use of energy, which included modern steam rail traction as well as general industrial steam modernisation of power stations and sugar mill plants. His final steam project was the development of a steam bus in the capital of Buenos Aires along with Gustavo Durán; Porta had already designed a modern steam car whilst at INTI during 1970.

Porta's influence

Porta continued advancing steam technology right up to the time of his death: from the mid-1990s he worked for the Cuban Sugar Ministry (Minaz) on locomotives using new fuels such as

bagasse Bagasse ( ) is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane or sorghum stalks to extract their juice. It is used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, and in the manufacture of pulp and building ...

; he also considerably influenced many later steam projects worldwide, notably those of

David Wardale The 5AT Advanced Technology steam locomotive was a conceptual design conceived by the British engineer David Wardale, and first described in his definitive work on modern steam, ''The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam.'' Wardale's pu ...

and the 5AT Project, Phil Girdlestone, Roger Waller, Shaun McMahon, and Nigel Day. In 2001 he supported Shaun McMahon's heavy rebuilding and modification of a 500 mm-

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, ...

Garratt A Garratt (often referred to as a Beyer Garratt) is a type of steam locomotive invented by British engineer Herbert William Garratt that is articulated into three parts. Its boiler, firebox, and cab are mounted on a centre frame or "bridge ...

for the

Southern Fuegian Railway The Southern Fuegian Railway ( es, Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino (FCAF)) or the Train of the End of the World ( es, El Tren del Fin del Mundo) is a gauge steam railway in Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. It was originally built as a freight ...

that had been produced in Argentina in 1994. McMahon included larger cross section for tubing, insulation of the boiler and improved front end as well as combustion system in line with Porta's teachings over the years; the economy of this modern steam engine was improved vastly, more than doubling train length. As a tribute to Porta's lifetime work and in celebration of his upcoming 80th birthday, McMahon named the locomotive "Ing. L.D. PORTA" when it was presented to the public on 11 December 2001. A second Garratt with similar technical specifications was built by Phil Girdlestone in South Africa and delivered to the FCAF in 2006. A third is now under construction again with similar technical features, in Ushuaia.

Family

He was a devoted family man and he and his wife, Ana Marie, had four children. One of his three sons died of cancer at an early age. On 7 July 1976, during Argentina's

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

, his daughter was taken at gunpoint from her home and never seen again.

References

External links

*
Modern Steam and related articles
at ''Martyn Bane's Steam and Travel Pages''.
Pages for the British project to build a modern steam locomotive. The Advanced Steam Locomotive. (5AT)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porta, Livio Dante 1922 births 2003 deaths Locomotive builders and designers People from Rosario, Santa Fe 20th-century Argentine engineers Argentine people in rail transport Argentine expatriates in France