WELDER OF THE MONTH CLUB

 

Chris Galloway joined the railroad in 1994 as a B&M machine operator.  Today the New Hampshire native is a welding foreman, a recipient of two Presidential Achievement awards and patent holder.

“I knew we needed a proper way to fix and retain the frogs,” he said.  “When you weld frogs, they curl because of the heat.  We needed a rotating table to weld them in a flat position.”

In 1999, Galloway drew sketches and plans, and developed a table – the first spanning 25 feet.  It took a No. 6 to No. 10 frog.  Because he had even longer frogs, Galloway developed a 30 foot table the next year.

With development of the frog table meant a new patent.  In 2002, Galloway obtained three patents: one for each table and one for the milling machine.

Not long after, Galloway found another issue.  A welder would take two to four weeks of welding on the frogs, leading to grinding dust in the air.  Galloway again thought of a solution.  He designed and developed a portable 22-foot-long milling machine.  With this, material costs to cut frogs totaled $100, instead of 10 days of man-hours.  It also reduced dust in the air.

“It went from about a week of hand grinding down to two days, “ he said, “and there is a better working environment.”

Daven Corp. would like to thank Chris for his brilliant problem solving creativity and safety towards the welding community.