RS1 question

[Bread&steel]

I know that the RS1 was designed to run long hood forward but looking at pictures of RS1s still in use seem to show trains with RS1 power runing short hood forward. I have two RS1s that I want to run coupled together in a permanent lash-up...so my question is does it matter if I do it long hood or short hood forward.

 

[LoudMusic]

It depends on how "real" you want to operate them. Some railroads ran long hood forward and some ran short hood forward. Personally I would run them long hoods coupled together, but I'm not particularly concerned with realistic operation.

Which way looks best to you?

 

[bnsf971]

In most cases, the locomotives would be coupled together back to back, unless there was a compelling reason not to. That way, one of the engines would always be facing forward, no matter which direction they were going.
An extenuating circumstance would be if both engines needed to face a particular direction, possibly due to an obstruction or refueling/service facilities. For example, both locomotives may face North because there is only one catwalk for maintenance, and being oriented that way makes the job easier and faster.