The long hood is legally the front. That's why there's a tiny F stencil on the sill.
My suspicion has always been that the long end forward was based on the fact that steam engines had the boiler out front so that's the way it was done with diesels. It didn't take long to figure out visibility was better short hood forward but it took until close to second generation diesels to realize that lowering the short hood and adding a window over it made visibility even better. The old adage in any product is form follows function
It's road specific, but transitioning from the steam age, the theory was to put the long end out front to protect the crew. Or maybe that's just internet folklore.
If you search railpictures.net for RS3, you will see some with plows on the short end. There are pages of pictures so you can find the road name you model I freelance and the short end is the front.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
A newbie question, but that's why I'm here:
What was considered the "front" end of the RS3 locomotive? The end near the cab or the other end? Thanks!