The locomotive is Chinese. So the engineers apparently drive on the left hand side, so therefore the attachment point would be placed on the left side of the locomotive making the engineer figure appear on the correct side for that country. However As you can see that "engineer" also has the conductor figure attached to the same "mesh" to create a more realistic feel to the U.S. freight locomotives.
Yah I'm using the two man crew to operate the locomotives that could be why his outside the cab.... i didn't notice tho till that point in the route that he was outside the cab.... i was like wtf his commiting suicide LoL...... I wonder if he freaks out when another train is coming @ 60 mph hahah