SkunkyArt | JobsOldBootlace — COCKADE the Renegade Diesel

[[HISTORY]]
Cockade first arrived on Sodor in the Summer of 1969, trialled alongside fellow classmate Glory (D818). The two caused quite a stir during their time on the Island, notably when Cockade wrecked an entire train-load of coal due for the Island. Both were sent away by the end of the season, though the Fat Controller had explicit directions for Cockade to never return to the Island again.
Of course, this hardly stopped him. A few years later, Cockade was withdrawn, and with no one wanting to preserve it, was swiftly lined up for the Cutters’ Torch. By all accounts, his fate should have been sealed then and there, but somehow, Cockade cheated fate, and escaped from the Torch and Lady Luck. For some time, it was a renegade engine - on the run from Control and hiding out with whoever he could coerce into giving it shelter. By the time he reached Sodor, Cockade was quite worse for wear, and desperate. An incredibly destructive combination if there ever was one.
For an entire summer, Cockade hid away on the abandoned parts of the railway, causing trouble wherever and whenever it could. Eventually, he was caught, but before it could be properly dealt with by the Fat Controller, he vanished without a trace. No one knew where it had gone. No one knew if he was even still alive. But the truth is, in the dead of night, the diesels from the Other Railway, tired of being tormented by such an engine, snuck onto the Railway to dispose of him personally…

[[THE CLAW]]
Cockade’s Claw is an illegal modification added to him while on the run. It received it whilst hiding away with an old scrap company, using it to do odd-jobs and pick up scrap around the complex. When Control finally caught on that this scrapyard was hosting their renegade, they arrived to find it completely torched, all staff injured if not worse, and Cockade nowhere to be seen.

[[COCKADE AND JAMIE]]
Jamie may have hated diesels, but Cockade is the only one that they absolutely fear. During Cockade’s first visit to the island, Jamie made fun of him for its name, which swiftly resulted in a sparring session that had to be broken up by the other Main Line engines for fear Cockade was trying to kill them. Which he was.
When Cockade returned a few Summers later, Jamie was in legitimate fear for their life, especially so when they accidentally stumbled upon it on a visit to the Smelters Yard. Cockade was incredibly close to destroying Jamie for good there, if the Ironworks’ Diesels hadn’t intervened.
Though Cockade is hardly a problem for the engines now, Jamie still gets nightmares of being hunted down by the big diesel.

[[THE MAGIC RAILWAY]]
(For Reference in regards to Lady, see also This Post by @mean-scarlet-deceiver )
During his time on the run, it wasn’t exactly a hidden secret that Cockade was beginning to, well, lose it. After some time spent well isolated from other engines, it began to ramble to himself about some the Magic Railway of Mythos, The Great Station in the Sky, and everything in Engine Mythos was Real. Even Lady herself. Naturally, most engines ignored this, but it didn’t stop Cockade from ranting on and on about it.
While on Sodor, however, hiding away on all those abandoned lines made things for Cockade much, much worse. He saw things that made him dead-set that not only was Lady real, but she had to be destroyed at all costs. Most simply took it as the ramblings of a mad-engine. But when Cockade first laid eyes upon the newly restored Lucy, well… things really took a turn for the worse.
When the diesels arrived to drag him off to his fate, Cockade ranted on & on about how Lady was now after it, and that he needed to be protected at all costs. They never listened, and wrote it off as the ravings of a mind lost to madness.
But in his final moments, as he was prepared to be cut up, Cockade was not witness to the parting glances of the diesels who had had enough of its actions. But rather, the sight of an old Victorian Well-Tank, puffing out of the darkness to collect what she had been cheated out of many years ago…

[[SADIE & DELILAH]]
Sadie and Delilah are two Shunting Diesels owned by the Fat Controller’s Railway who worked as pilots for Vicarstown Station. Sadie talks a big game, but tends to get confused very easily. She carries a sense of false confidence that often gets her into messes. Delilah is an intelligent sort, and is often lost in thought. She speaks rather bluntly, and doesn’t tend to speak that often. She often gets caught up in Sadie’s messes, much to her own frustration.
It is these two diesels who proved to be the downfall of Cockade, as they were the two he had intimidated into hiding him away on Sodor. It should also be noted that these two, despite their short-comings, were well-regarded by many engines on both the Fat Controller’s Railway and the Other Railway, and when the diesels of the Other Railway stationed at Vicarstown found out about this, they weren’t exactly willing to leave Cockade’s fate up to chance…