Also happened in London although less by design philosophy than a desire to keep major stations and tracks out of the City. First the Underground was created to link the various stations, now we have the RER like Elizabeth Line providing that function at least for a few stations.
Whereas modern trains can be turned quite efficiently, in steam days this was a much more cumbersome process and in addition to the space needed for tracks and platforms, the old terminals had steam locomotive servicing and stabling facilities in immediate proximity, as well as stabling tracks for passenger cars, dedicated tracks for freight, mail services etc. The land usage footprint was thus quite sizeable and it was also a matter of expediency that the early LD routes did not attempt to realize such projects in dense inner city areas. Acquiring the land and dealing with objections would have cost years and huge heaps of money. So they preferred to go where land was cheaper and easier to buy.
The cities have of course since then grown around the stations, making them feel very urban.
Today most of these stations make do with much less land, the railroads having made some extra money by selling off the excess land to property developers.
One notable exception that comes to mind was in the UK in the city of York where an opening was actually cut into the ancient city walls (with a nice gothic arch to make it look authentic) and a lot of land cleared within the old medieval city to create a terminus station. Later this was abandoned in favor of the present thu station outside the city walls, and the old station site redeveloped for other purposes (although part of the main station building is still there and used by the local city administration). The arch in the city wall is also still there, but that tracks are long gone and nobody except railfans and history buffs know its significance.
www.amtraktrains.com
