Sante Fe F3B decal placement - Backwards B units ?

The additional 'add on' F3B powered unit 6-14517 (pictured above) also has the Chief facing forward.

Yep,  it is backwards.  Lionel produced thousands of B's like that ( with one logo backwards and one forward) in the early 50's.

It didn't really become an issue until Lionel added a back-up light to the B-unit tooling for that 6-18130 in 1996. Up until that time, a "front" and "rear" had never really mattered.

Ever since the 6-18130 was produced incorrectly, I believe all the following ones were produced with the herald facing forward.

TRW

Old thread, added to.

Just came across this as I changed the body on my 1955 era 2343c to a newer one.  On the 50's ones the key is not forward/backward but 1 decal design for both sides.  Simplified ordering .   Also the decal is lower, overlaping the top of the stripes and keeps the decal out of the seam on the side of the unit.  Simplified assembly.  One side forward, one side backward is what happens with the same decals.   

On the modern era ones there is a single "tail light" added.  To get  both sides facing "forward"  takes 2 decals.   Now there is 1 correct way and 3 wrong ways to apply the decals.  Both sides correct, both backwards, Left decal on both sides, right decal on both sides.    On some modern runs they got it backwards or the decals reversed vs. left to right.   Did they use the same decal on both sides if they ran out?   They are also higher and do not overlap the stipes, but do overlap the seam on the side.

On my newer one they got it "forward" .  Newer on top, 1955 era on bottom.

The ATDF Diesel Locomotives Painting and Lettering Guide for Model Railroaders indicates that the chief should always facing forward on the locomotive and in the case of a B unit the front of the unit is the side that has the dynamic brakes while the rear has the steam generator.  On an F3 the dynamic brakes are on the side that has the long twin parallel screens or on an F7 or F9 the 36" or 48" single fan.  The steam generator on the F units is typically shown by a round vent and steam exhaust as most F units were equipped with Vapor-Clarkson steam generators.

Maybe a little heavy on prototype info for this thread, but good information.  I had to go look it up which simply speaks to the value of a good library of reference books.

Here is a quick photo out of the book I referenced above.  While the photo shows F7s, F3s would be the same.  It is interesting to note that the FT did not have the chief logo on the side.

Thanks for this definitive info and pictures Jonathan!