You know, i worked the darn things when I first hired on, but that was 34 years ago.
I think there were controls on both ends of the car, but I dont remember.
I remember working a westbound from west hempstead, and we got stoned ( rocks thrown at us) just west of westwood station.
One of the rocks came through the engineers window, and hit him on the bridge of the nose.
He was wearing safety glasses and they broke in half, but he was not injured.
There were fold down seats for the engineers, but they were uncomfortable, and most engineers opted to stand while operating the train.
They had to stand on the closed trap over the steps while operating, and the cabs were not heated that well in the winter, and had no air in the summer. They were very drafty. In the summer, most engineers opened the door above the trap, and ran that way, as seen in the photo above, allowing a breeze to come in. Hey liquid camphor, share with us what it was like to run them.