Can anyone tell me what the heck long hood end /short hood endis? I can't seem to wrap my head around it.
Pretty simple - the "hoods" are the sections of the loco in front and behind the cab (mainly on American locos where there is only one cab). Since the cab usually isn't in the middle of the loco (except for some shunters that need to operate both directions equally), one hood will be shorter and the other longer. Generally, "forwards" operation on a diesel will have the short hood at the front (since it is smaller and easier to see over, so the control station will point in this direction), the long hood contains the diesel engines and is usually much larger and more difficult to see around. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_hood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_hood
