{{Short description|British locomotive engineer (1903–1980)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox engineer |image = |image_size = |caption = |name = Roland C. Bond |birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|05|05|df=yes}} |birth_place = |death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|12|20|1903|05|05|df=yes}} |death_place = |education = [[Tonbridge School]] |spouse = |parents = |children = |discipline = Locomotive engineer |institutions = |practice_name = |significant_projects = |significant_design = |significant_advance = |significant_awards = }}

'''Roland Curling Bond''' (5 May 1903 – 20 December 1980) was a British [[Railway engineering|locomotive engineer]].

==Biography== Bond was born in [[Ipswich]] in 1903, and became interested in railways when staying in [[Great Yarmouth|Yarmouth]] during the [[Great War]]. He was educated at [[Tonbridge School]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Bond joined the Midland Railway in 1920, from 1923 part of the [[London, Midland and Scottish Railway]] (LMS) until 1925. He was an apprentice under [[Henry Fowler (engineer)|Henry Fowler]]. He then became assistant works manager at the [[Vulcan Foundry]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

In 1931 Bond returned to the LMS, becoming an "assistant works superintendent" at [[Horwich Works|Horwich]]. In 1933, moved to assistant works superintendent at [[Crewe Works|Crewe]]. On the outbreak of the [[World War II]] in 1939, Bond was sent to Scotland as acting mechanical and electrical engineer, acting for [[R.A. Riddles]]. In 1941, he moved back to Crewe to become "works superintendent" and helped drive efficient locomotive and munitions work there.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

In 1948, on the formation of the [[Railway Executive]], Bond was appointed chief officer (Locomotive Construction and Maintenance), reporting to Riddles, who was now "Member of the Railway Executive for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gilbert |first1=P.T. |last2=Chancellor |first2=P.J. |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=R.K. |title=Volume One: Background to Standardisation and the Pacific Classes |series=A Detailed History of British Railways Standard Steam Locomotives |year=1994 |publisher=[[Railway Correspondence and Travel Society|RCTS]] |location=Lincoln |isbn=0-901115-81-9 |page=15 }}</ref> On the abolition of the Railway Executive in 1953, Bond became chief mechanical engineer, [[British Railways|BR]] Central Staff and later in 1965 general manager, BR Workshops. He was succeeded as Chief Mechanical Engineer in October 1958 by John Frederick (Freddie) Harrison. Bond retired in 1970 and died in 1980, aged 77.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * ''A Lifetime with Locomotives'' (Goose & Son, 1975). "Transition from steam" H.C.B. Rogers (Ian Allan, 1980)

==External links== * [https://steamindex.com/people/bond.htm Roland Curling Bond] at steamindex.com

{{S-start}} {{s-npo|pro}} {{S-bef|before=[[John Hereward Pitchford]] }} {{S-ttl| title=President of the [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]] |years=1963 }} {{S-aft|after=[[Frank Mason (engineer)|Vice-Admiral Sir Frank Mason, RN]] }} {{S-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Roland Curling}} [[Category:1903 births]] [[Category:1980 deaths]] [[Category:People educated at Tonbridge School]] [[Category:Engineers from Ipswich]] [[Category:British mechanical engineers]] [[Category:British Rail people]] [[Category:20th-century English engineers]]