Selection of Papers by L.D. Porta – Volume 2

Adhesion, Compounding and the Tornado Proposal

The Argentinean engineer Livio Dante Porta (1922 – 2003) remains an unsung hero in the long history of steam 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 the scrap merchants. He has however left a rich legacy in the form of several hundred technical papers covering a wide range of subjects and written in a variety of languages. A few of his papers were published in conference proceedings and some were left in typed format, but the majority were left as hand-written manuscripts.  Some were written for specific purposes such as his “A1 Paper” that was written in the hope of influencing the design of Tornado, and his “Compounding” paper that was written to try to influence David Wardale’s design of the 5AT. Others were written for the purpose of ensuring that the development of steam locomotives would continue into the 21st century.  The papers that are left to us are mostly of poor quality, having been photocopied many times and circulated amongst the “modern steam aficionados”. These can be hard to read, and most contain “Porta-isms” (grammatical errors) that require interpretation.

Chris Newman has transcribed over 40 of Porta’s English-language papers and is publishing them in several volumes through the auspices of the Advanced Steam Traction Trust.  This second volume titled “Adhesion, Compounding and the Tornado Proposal” includes just three papers as follows:

• Adhesion in Advanced Steam Locomotive Engineering;
• Fundamentals of the Porta Compounding System;
• A Proposal for the Tornado Project.

The book fills 250 A4 pages including numerous black and white images.

Book price: £25.00 (less 20% discount to ASTT members) plus postage.

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Please note:  All proceeds from the sale of this book will accrue to Advanced Steam Traction Services Ltd. (ASTS), and will be used to fund its work of fostering improvements to the performance, reliability and/or economy of steam locomotives.