Thank you Peter.
My Mianne stuff has been in storage so long I forgot what heights I have 
. Your photos of you working under the table brings back nightmares of when I had a table top layout. You are correct about the switches in the rear. I'm trying to find ways around that, maybe having the express run unconnected to the local track and (1) having a L-shaped point to point for the local with the portion on the right side wall hidden from view and the express staying where it is - this will cut down a few inches on the depth or (2) running the loops as is but without the tracks connecting.
I have to have an express track I've always been obsessed with getting the vision of the express trains running past a station in the dark behind the tunnel support columns. I loved that scene as a teenager in the Big Apple and still do now. Here are some YouTube videos that I did in 2017 of the Astor Place Subway Rush Hour and 33rd Street Subway Rush Hour in New York. Music that is sweet to my ears.
