Making a station with a waiting bay?

[ian9113]

Hey everyone, mostly a lurker but I have a question about signaling in stations. My current setup is usually 3 track stations, using path signals at either entrance. The center track is used for express trains that don't stop at the station. This usually works fine, with local trains using outer tracks, and express trains bypassing them in the center track. However, the main issue is that sometimes the local trains will leave the station before the express trains can get to the path signal at the other end--this has the effect of stopping the express train and forcing it to wait for the local trains to leave.

My question is if it's possible to use some kind of signal setup, either with programmable signals or the usual ones, to create a setup where the local trains will wait for the express trains to clear the station before leaving. My visualization of the code is this:

Tracks are A and B. Local trains use track A, express through trains use track B when track A is occupied. At the exit signal for track A, the signal would only be green if track B is unoccupied.

Does anyone know how to do this? I have tried to use exit, entry, and path signals but haven't found a reliable way to do it. I should also mention that the outer tracks of the given station are one-directional, while the center track can be used in either direction.

Thanks!

[Alberth]

It sounds like you want openttdcoop priority magic:
http://wiki.openttdcoop.org/Priority

[Baldy's Boss]

It's possible to link non-adjacent tracks as part of the same station,so you could eliminate the center platform and run the track straight through.Would the modified signal blocks help your problem?

[lcd_47]

Can you please post a screenshot of what you have now?