Layout height

The past few days, I was able to finish a couple of small projects including completing the sky fascia covering the lights and organizing some of my storage bins. Bruce also dropped by and we talked about some  minor enhancements to the latest track plan (Loop Layout with Peninsula). I am pretty sure this is the plan we will build and it will fill the space. While Bruce is updating his sketches, I am devising the operating scheme to make sure it provides the challenge and entertainment I am looking for in a model railroad.

In the meantime, the next question to ponder and solve is track height. The last layout had the rails about 52" (about 132 cm) off the floor which puts the running tracks at my chest height - very nice for realistic viewing from the side and not top down. Reaching across the deepest section of the layout, about 30", was nearly impossible without the step stool but I really enjoyed the perspective.

Unfortunately, in the new train room this puts the layout at exactly the halfway point on the three electrical outlets and the one light switch. So I have 3 options:

1. The height I prefer with notches to access the outlets and buildings or scenery to hide the wires, 
2. Lower height to clear the outlets but still rely on buildings and scenery to hide them, or
3. Pay an electrician to lower the 3 outlets and possibly wire them to a new 2 light switch so I can separately turn off lights and the track power from one convenient location.

Left is preferred rail height of 52". You can see one of the outlets 1/2 covered behind it

Of course, the smart thing is to do the right thing and don't compromise, which means option 3. No idea how expensive this would be nor how much work it would entail but it's the right thing to do. In the meantime, I seem to have a couple of pieces of track lying around, time to push some boxcars!