Livio Dante Porta 1922 - 2003
English translation kindly supplied by Cris Vande Velde of Belgium

On the 10th of June 2003, the most significant theoretician and practician of modern steam locomotive development, Livio Dante Porta, died in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He graduated as an engineer in Argentina in 1946. As a pupil and friend of the renowned French steam locomotive engineer André Chapelon, L.D. Porta had a lot of opportunities, modernisations and new developments to bring to fruition..

One of his greatest achievements was the modernisation of the Mitsubishi steam locomotives on the 258km stretch of 750mm gauge line from Rio Turbio, which were delivered to Argentina after the Second World War. Ing. L.D. Porta rebuilt the locomotives with a Gas Producer Combustion System, and added, among other things, the Kylpor exhaust, which he had developed.

His innovations were recently put to use in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. On the ex-convicts' line there the two new 500mm gauge locomotives, built for tourist service, were modernised with his assistance. The feedwater treatment system that he developed was also successfully applied.

At the beginning of the 1960's, L.D. Porta was involved with development work on the reduction of harmful, and wasteful, emissions from industrial steam locomotives in England. In the middle of the 90's, among other places, he worked in Australia, where he modernised NA "6A" the "Puffing Billy Railway".

In 1985, L.D. Porta exported his combustion technology to Poland. There he advised a state company in Katowice on their modernisation of central heating systems. In the same year, our colleagues in the Polish workshops at Pila carried out the modernisation of two Ty2 type locomotives incorporating a Gas Producer Combustion System. Porta's work was a valuable inspiration for this. Interlok shareholder Jean-Pierre Hofer got to know Porta personally during one of his visits to Europe.

Porta impressed in conversation due to his serene character. With all his scientific exactness and visions for the future L.D. Porta was also a passionate speaker, with humorous stories from his own, rich experience. L.D. Porta wrote mostly on a typewriter, but often also by hand. This traditionalism causes a problem in retaining the detail of the technical experiments and developments of L. D. Porta for posterity. About 300 manuscripts (of which about half are written in English, 2/5ths in Spanish, and the rest in French) await transcription.

During his last years, L.D. Porta, in conjunction with a Cuban research institute, developed a new type of modern 0-6-2t shunting locomotive LVM800, which would use a Gas Producer Combustion System burning sugar cane waster known as bagasse - an abundant waste product of the sugar cane industry. For some time two employees from the institute stayed in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, after the passing of the director of the institute, Manuel Alepuz, in 2002, the completion of the project became doubtful.

L.D. Porta followed with great interest the current plans of the British engineer David Wardale to develop the 5AT, a completely new modern steam locomotive for main line service. Among the Porta projects that remain active today is the modernisation of a German Class 50 locomotive with a Gas Producer Combustion System burning wood for operation in the Jura region of France. Interlok Pila is committed to continuing this project, which was discussed a great deal with the deceased engineer, and so as to contribute to the continued development of a unique body of research.

Hermann Schmidtendorf.