Where are the 1st class cars located on the AVE

I can't answer your question exactly, but here is a link to pictures of the classes at the Man in Seat 61 website.

For more information on traveling by train in Spain, go to this extensive Man in Seat 61 article on that.

I bet someone here can help you. If not, look for a diagram of the train on the platform. If you can't find one and have to make a decision, I'd go on the assumption that the first-class passengers are given as short a walk as possible. So if you're boarding at a dead-end station, I'd guess the first-class cars would be near the front. I'm always in second class, and I have often found myself trotting down to the far end of the train.

Best to ask the person who will be at the entrance to the track. The first car at departure will be the last car at arrival, and sometimes parts of the train will go to different places.
If you are walking along the train, they won't leave you, and people will be stationed along the cars to point you the right way.

Thank you all so much.
LIZinPA , acraven and Lo
I am checking the links right now

Depends on how they link that particular train. You won’t know until you get there. We’ve done first class a few times and once it was quite a walk. Get there early!

Railroad passenger cars are designed to run both ways so it nearly impossible to know where in the station the first class cars are. It is a pass through station then it generally is consistent if a beginning station then the train can back in or pull in head first and back out. Other than the distance to walk it should be fairly easy for you. Cars are clearly marked.

There are a few routes where the train "reverses" during the journey, so you might start at the front, but end at the rear. Obviously this is the case where it stops along the way at stations that are terminuses.

If your concern is knowing where to get on, which I think it is, then many of the railway stations with AVE services will display the formation on announcement boards before it arrives, showing the order of carriages so you can roughly know where on the platform to stand for your particular coach.

Oh Nick,
Yes, that is exactly what I needed to know. Thank you for your time Nick and everyone