Selection of Papers by L.D. Porta Volume 3 Steam Locomotive Boilers, Fireboxes and Combustion

The Argentinean engineer Livio Dante Porta (1922 - 2003) remains an unsung hero in the long history of steam locomotive development. Following in the footsteps of Chapelon, he rebuilt numerous locomotives in Argentina and elsewhere, and designed several revolutionary locomotives, both large and small. Like Chapelon, none of his designs were built and most of his rebuilds have been lost to scrap. He has however left a rich legacy in the form of over two hundred technical papers covering a wide range of subjects and written in his native Spanish, and French, but the majority in English.

A few of his papers were published in conference proceedings; some were typed, but the majority were left as hand-written manuscripts. Many were written for specific purposes such as "Application of the Gas Producer Combustion System to the 141R" and "On the Hudson-Orrok Heat Transfer Equation" which were written to guide David Wardale in his South African or his China endeavours. Others would have been written for the purpose of guiding present and future engineers and designers towards the further development of steam locomotive engineering.

Chris Newman has transcribed over 40 of Porta's English-language papers including the 19 published in this volume. Eight papers have already been published in the first two volumes of this series, and a fourth volume will cover feedwater heating, boiler water circulation, and boiler water treatment. A fifth volume is planned covering a miscellaneous variety of subjects. An anthology of papers about Porta and his works is also planned.

These volumes are being published through the auspices of the Advanced Steam Traction Trust under an agreement with the leading members of the Porta Family Foundation, specifically Joint Presidents Ana Maria Porta and Alejandro Dante Porta and Vice President Shaun T. McMahon who have proof-checked the pre-production copies and approved the style and presentation of the papers as edited by Chris Newman.

Porta's legacy deserves to be recorded for posterity in the same way that Chapelon's did. Indeed, it may be argued that his legacy is more important because it was built on Chapelon's work and might therefore be seen as the "final word" on the commercial development of the steam locomotive. Besides that, he was a truly remarkable man, and an indefatigable proponent of steam traction, who deserves to be remembered.