Trailing direction bays were quite common during the construction of the railways as they saved having a facing point lock, many track layouts are a legacy from that where it’s not worth subsequently changing the layout.
As traffic was generally lighter in those days the trains would arrive elsewhere in the station and then shunt into the bay to stable prior to departure. This often worked well with steam hauled services as they wouldn’t be able to run around in the bay anyway.
Places which spring to mind where this occurs/occurred are Huntingdon, Oxted and Taunton, I’m sure there are many more!