I had that exact same lathe
It served me well for maybe ten years and i sold it last Christmas for almost $1000 ! Mine was in excellent shape, clean and with three chucks and a QR import tool post. The through hole is just big enough for tip work, not large enough for most cue work.. You will not taper a shaft or butt with it. Yes the bed length on the plate includes the bed taken up by the headstock and the tailstock. That was Southbend's method of describing lathe length, kind of strange. It is excellent for making your own custom joint screws, and making jigs for various cue building tasks. My model A had factory ball bearings. Though some older representatives of this model had poured in place Babbit. The Babbit is actually more accurate than any ball or roller bearing, but also much more intolerant of abuse. And making new Babbit bearings is kind of an art in itself.
If you buy this lathe for $200 as someone said, and it is in working order, it is a real bargain ! Go for it! I paid $450 originally then added a homemade welded steel stand, the toolpost and 2 chucks. The lathe I bought was not worn much and seen only home use by a retired tool and die maker. Use that to weigh a price for yours. I could find a 12x36 or bigger for what I sold mine for, but someone appreciated it and paid me the full asking price without haggling. He said he had been looking for a nice condition South Bend for two years! Also here in the rust belt lathes are not hard to come by, it's just good cond lathes that are rare.
