Well, actually the future layout. ;-) I am in the planning stages of my new layout, but here's what I plan to do. First level will be an underground subway, then an open cut level for Metro North and NYC trains, a street level layer for cars, buildings and at grade trains / bridges, next level will be an elevated subway. (In NY, subways are also elevated's in sections of the Bronx and Queens - they also run in open cuts). This means you do not have to have an underground subway on your layout to run these beauties on your layout. In fact, adding some sort of elevated structure would be the easiest way to incorporate a subway into an existing layout. Above the elevated section, on part of the layout I will be adding a second level of el, so there will be a double el along part of the layout. This was like the old 3rd Avenue El in the Bronx, and portions of the 3rd Ave. el in Manhattan many years earlier. In all, this means my layout in spots could have as many as 5 levels! Of course it will be a long time before I get this complete - and a while before I even start, but working from the bottom up, I should be able to run trains in between construction of each layer, and the higher layers can always be added at a later date with proper planning from the beginning.
