Until now, all stations were either terminal stations or through station. However, there is often a need to have a station combining both parts, so that certain trains turn around and others do not. In these example stations, only trains entering from the bottom left will be able to reverse, but it is easily possible to change the design so that reversing is possible for both directions.
Turning around allowed
The first part are layouts which only work if trains are allowed to reverse at stations. This can be controlled in the game settings. Depending on your style of playing, it can be enabled or disabled, many players disable it, because train behaviour gets easier to understand.
In this layout, trains change to the left side in front of the station and enter the leftmost tracks. Trains going straight ahead use the platforms to the right. To prevent trains from entering the same platform from both ends at the same time, through signals have to placed on both ends of the station. In addition, the path signals at the station entry (lower left) are restricted, so that trains enter the correct side of the station. The criterion is the station of the next order, i.e. the station after this one. Using waypoints would be possible as well, the layout would need a bit more space.
This is one half of a station design by krtaylor from tt-forums.net. After loading, a train turns around, heads for the waypoint and leaves. The original design had this kind of entry junction on both sides, allowing trains from both directions to reverse. The design works very well even with heavy traffic, and it can easily be expanded.
This is one half of a station design by krtaylor from tt-forums.net. The original layout used pre signals, but it also works with path signals. Trains enter the station at the two platforms to the right (crossing the path signals as they are facing the other direction). After loading, trains can turn around and leave the station via the waypoint. One could experiment if the waypoint is really necessary, it is placed here for the sake of understanding the concept. The entry signal to the lower left is one-way to prevent trains going onto that track.
No turning around
If trains are not allowed to reverse in stations, one either has to build loops behind the station or build the platforms in such a way that trains enter a platform which is a dead end, forcing it to turn around.
This is a compact layout that includes a loop to allow trains to turn around after they visited the station. However, the entry junction where the loop leads into might become a bottleneck rather soon. Note the use of restricted routing for the signals to the lower right leading away from the station. This ensures that trains take the correct way. The criterion would be the station of current order. One could simply build a waypoint to the left of the station, trains going to that waypoint may use the loop, all others have to go straight ahead.
In this example there is a loop behind the station allowing trains to turn around. The loop surely is not optimal because it might block trains coming from the right, but as long as only a few trains are to turn around, this should be ok.
This is another loop layout, making use of the terrain. Again, the signals at the station exit on the right are restricted, so that trains do not use the bridge if they should not do that. Thanks to the extended bridge heads the layout is very compact.
Here, the loop is built a bit bigger and interferes less with the rest of the traffic. On the other hand, since it uses a bridge, the layout should only be used where the terrain is shaped in a fitting way, an extra slope just for turning might not be the best idea, especially not for heavy freight trains.
This station is designed for heavily trafficked lines which should not be blocked by trains turning around crossing junctions in different directions. It uses an extra terminal platform in the middle. Trains that should turn around go there. After loading, the train reverses and leaves the station. Depending on the number of trains, the number of platforms may also vary. The important thing here are the routing restrictions again, which make sure that the trains enter the correct platforms. One could also use waypoints, this would make the layout a bit bigger.
Here there is an extra platform in the middle of the station, which is a dead end, so it forces trains to turn around. To make sure that only trains go there that actually should do that, waypoints are used. Trains that should turn around use waypoint 1, the others use waypoint 2. This layout can also be extended easily and is also usable on heavily trafficked lines.
