Long hood

The long hood of a hood unit-style diesel locomotive is, as the name implies, the longer of the two hoods (narrower sections of the locomotive body in front and behind of the cab) on a locomotive, particularly American-type freight locomotives.

The long hood normally contains the diesel engine (prime mover), the main generator or alternator, the locomotive's cooling radiators, the dynamic brake resistor grids if fitted, and most of the locomotive's auxiliary equipment. Head-end power equipment, if fitted, is normally in the long hood; steam generators for heating older passenger cars may be either in the long or short hoods.

Normally, the long hood is the rear of the locomotive. For early hood unit models, this was not the case; railroads preferred to run with the long hood at the front and the cab at the rear (referred to as operating long hood forward or LHF). It is a common misconception that locomotives were run LHF to provide greater protection, although it may have been a secondary benefit. Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway operated their locomotives bidirectionally to make coal shifting more efficient. By putting the engineer on the right side with the Long Hood Forward, the engineer could see signals down the long hood and around the short hood for operations in both directions. Later, preferences changed to having the short hood at the front and the long hood at the rear for better visibility and with the advent of Wide, or Comfort, cabs. Visibility became a deciding factor when more powerful engines required larger, visibility-obscuring radiator units.

The railroads that held out the longest for long-hood leading were the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Southern Railway (later merged into the Norfolk Southern Railway). When Southern Railway received their first EMD GP7s, they were delivered with a high short hood, and Southern Railway pointed the locomotive LHF for crew safety. After the first GP7s hit the Southern Railway System, subsequent locomotives were ordered with the high short hood and the long hood designated (starting after the SD45 order) as the front. Here is a list of each locomotive Southern ordered with a high short hood, and operated LHF.

...
Wikipedia