The "brake at each end" rule went out sometime in the 1960s, and even before that two (I think) coaches could be attached between the brake and the end of the train.
Since then the brake has usually been at one end with the van end towards the end of the train, but it can be anywhere in the formation and was often near the middle on trains serving stations with short platforms, so the guard's accommodation would always be somewhere on the platform. The other time you would often find brakes in the middle was if a train split/joined en route, such as the Cross Country ones at Carstairs.
We've never gone in for turning whole trains in Britain. The only example I can think of was Mallard's train being turned on the triangle at Barkston prior to the record run, which makes me wonder if perhaps the LNER turned its streamliners on triangles at the end of each journey. The Americans seem quite keen on turning trains, at least on the longer transcontinental runs, so the mail and express (parcels) cars are at the front, the coach (seats) in the middle and the sleepers at the back.