Software
Stations, shunting and staging yards
Stations, staging yards, shunting moves and turntables bring operation to life. Here you can read how to assign tracks to a station, set dwell times and rules per train class, let a staging yard park and release trains, shunt, and drive locos across a turntable, sector plate or traverser.
Station
A station is an object of its own in the track plan. You place it from the palette in edit mode (see Drawing the track plan) and set it up in the inspector. You assign tracks with a single gesture: drag the block box in the track plan onto the station.
In the “Tracks / blocks” section you choose the role of each track:
- “🚉 Platform — stops” – trains stop here as scheduled, and the dwell time runs.
- “→ Transit” – trains pass through; it is never used for stopping and never chosen as a destination. A train only enters when its exit is clear.
- “⏸ Holding track” – trains may stand or be parked here, but there is no passenger stop.
- “→⏸ Transit+holding” – both combined.
| On the track | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ↩ | Reversing allowed: the train may change direction here – only together with ↩ on the train class (see below) and only after a dwell time. On a one-way track, the tick is locked against the one-way direction. |
| ↔ | Check length: the track only accepts trains that fit in up to the stopping point. Without the tick, the rear of the train may stick out; the route protects it. |
| − | Removes the track from the station. |
On a 🚉 track (not in a staging yard) you can also draw in the platform (see Blocks, feedback and insulated joints). The train classes that should stop at the platform then line up with it (see “Stop at the platform” under Locos, cars and trains).
Operating mode
Every station has an operating mode for the whole station. You set it in the inspector under “Operating mode”, or during operation with a click on the station.
| Mode | What applies |
|---|---|
| “Clear” | Normal operation according to the track roles and the train class rules. “Clear” lifts Stop and Barred again. |
| “Transit” | Trains pass through; there is no dwell time. The transit speed applies on every track. A staging yard no longer parks trains and is no longer a destination. |
| “Stop” | Every train stops on every track of the station, regardless of role and train class. Automated trains don't depart from here again; manual runs and going home take priority. |
| “Barred” | The station is closed to every train. |
During operation, a click on the station opens its menu; the current mode is highlighted with ✓. In the track plan, the platform in front of the building shows the mode – in its colour and with the word. “Stop” and “Barred” also get a frame.
In the inspector you rotate the station to the exact degree under “Orientation (°)”; “∥ Align to track” sets it parallel to the nearest track.
Dwell time
Under “Train classes & dwell times” you set how long trains stop at a platform: “Dwell time from” and “to”. LoDi-Aura picks a random value in between each time so that it doesn't feel mechanical. The default is 5 to 30 seconds. With “Dwell time in” you choose whether you enter the times in “seconds” or “minutes”; this applies to all stations of the layout and only changes the display.
Rules per train class
With “+ Train class…” you add a train class that has its own rules at this station. Without train class rules, all train classes are allowed and the default dwell time applies. For each train class there is:
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 🚫 | Locked: this train class may not stop here or may not enter – depending on the choice under “Locked (🚫) train classes”: “may pass through” or “may not enter”. |
| “from” · “to” | Its own dwell time for this train class. Empty = default. |
| Reversing slider ↩ | How often this train class reverses here: “↩ off” = never, “↩ only when needed” = only when it can't continue forwards; above that, as a percentage, also when it could carry on. Also needs the ↩ on the track and a dwell time. |
| − | Removes the rule. |
Speed
Under “Speed (km/h)” there are two values: “Entry/stop” applies on platform and holding tracks, “Transit” on the transit tracks. If the station is in “Transit” mode, “Transit” applies on all of its tracks. Left empty, the layout's station speed applies (“System” › “Track plan”, “Speed defaults” card, “Station (km/h)”).
Lighting
A station is a building too. Under “💡 Lighting / switching times”, use ＋ to add lighting zones – one address (DCC or SC) per zone with switching times, just like a house: a fixed time with on/off, or 🎲 random. Without a zone, the station stays unlit.
Staging yard
A station becomes a staging yard with the “🌑 Staging yard” tick in the inspector. It then doesn't count trains but tracks: you set how many storage tracks should stay free. If fewer are free, a parked train leaves. Example: three tracks, keep two free – the yard sends trains out until two tracks are free, and every arrival triggers the next departure.
The settings are in the “🌑 Train rotation” section.
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| “Rotation active” | Switches parking and releasing on. Off = no more departures by themselves. |
| “Keep tracks free” | This many storage tracks stay free. Every station track that is neither a transit track nor locked counts as a storage track; a locked track counts as neither free nor occupied. |
| “Who goes next” | “Longest waiting first”, “Random” or “By class” (in the order of your train class list). |
| “Next departure” | “as soon as a train enters” (default – even the booked entry counts, so traffic flows) or “once the arrived train has stopped”. |
| “Departure gap (s)” | Under “Fine tuning”: minimum pause between two departures, so that trains don't leave in a bunch. Default 10. |
The staging yard doesn't mind which train comes in – who may not enter is decided by the station's train class rules and the block locks. A train without a home track circles until it finds a staging yard with rotation running and a free track (if there are several, the nearest one). A train with a 🏠 home track always goes back there. Only a train that really has a reachable destination is woken up. Rotation pauses during “🏠 Go home” and while “🛑 STOP” is holding. Every parking move is recorded in the log.
If several blocks lie one behind the other in the same staging yard, trains are only parked at the very front. A train stopped further back moves up as soon as the front is free; its line then says “Moves up on the track as soon as … is free”.
A train you set to “✋ Manual” or “🚦 Interlocking” stays where it is and keeps occupying its track.
During operation, a click on the staging yard opens its menu: at the top the main rotation switch (“🌑 Rotation running”, “🌑 Rotation paused” or “🌑 Rotation off”), “keep free” with − and +, “Next” for the order, and below that, under “Train rules”, the operating modes.
In “Transit” mode the staging yard no longer parks trains and is no longer a destination, not even for going home; trains already inside stay and are still woken up. “Stop” and “Barred” halt the rotation. If you switch rotation back on, LoDi-Aura lifts a halting mode at the same time.
Shunting
Hold down Alt and drag the train onto the destination block.
| Rule | What applies |
|---|---|
| Speed | At most the “Shunting move (km/h)” value from the speed defaults under “System” › “Track plan” – for the whole layout. |
| Direction | The permitted direction of travel of the blocks is ignored. |
| Occupancy | Only onto free blocks – cars usually don't trigger an occupancy report. |
| Reversing | Expressly allowed. Cars may be pulled and pushed. |
| End | On arrival in the destination block. The move is not extended. |
| When driving by hand | The limit is only shown, not enforced. |
During a shunting move, signals show the “shunting” aspect – a white lamp in the simplified view. A mast that doesn't have this aspect shows stop, or the aspect you have assigned for it (see Turnouts and signals).
Shunting zigzag
If the shunting path runs over a turnout in the opposite direction, it can't be driven in one go: the train has to pull out, stop, reverse and back into the diverging track – the classic move at a headshunt. Automation finds the reversing points by itself and announces the zigzag already in the preview. Every reversal is a full stop; a zigzag isn't fast – the point is that it happens automatically.
Turntable, sector plate and traverser
How to draw a turntable and other bridges and connect them to a decoder is described in Drawing the track plan. This section is about operating them.
During operation, a click on the pit opens the control panel. It stays open as long as you're working in it.
- Turntable: “◀ Step”, “180°”, “Step ▶”, below them one button per track exit and, if entered, the light in the bridge cabin.
- Sector plate and traverser: “◀ Back”, “Forward ▶” and one button per stopping position. A position without a track is greyed out, but can still be selected.
It's quicker directly in the picture: a click on a track at the bridge moves the bridge there. The turntable takes the shorter way round; Shift+click brings the other end of the bridge there. The cabin shows which end is where. A click on the cabin switches its light.
Driving a loco across the bridge
- Drag the locoDuring operation, drag the loco into a track at the bridge (shed stall, siding) or onto the bridge. To just turn it on the turntable, drag it back into the track it came from.
- The bridge comesLoDi-Aura moves the bridge to the loco.
- Drive onThe loco drives onto the bridge as a shunting move and stops in the middle.
- Turn or shiftThe bridge moves to the destination track.
- Drive offThe loco drives off.
- The loco has to be stationary, and its direction of travel has to be known.
- A sector plate or traverser never swaps its ends: if the destination is on the side the loco came from, it drives off backwards.
- While the bridge is moving, no loco drives on or off.
- Destination search and automation never cross a bridge on their own; for them it remains a track end.
With and without a decoder
With a decoder, LoDi-Aura sets the bridge itself – for a click in the track plan as well as for driving across it. If the layout is switched off, it refuses, and the bridge stays where it is. Every click is a request to LoDi-Aura: the picture moves as soon as the position is confirmed, and all windows show the same bridge, even after a restart. In simulation the bridge moves by itself, taking its travel time.
Without a decoder, LoDi-Aura waits until you have moved the bridge by hand and reported its position with a click on the track; only then does the loco drive. On a turntable, also pay attention to the end of the bridge when reporting (Shift+click).