A previously beautiful city, now ruined by train tracks everywhere?
You’re 140 years too late.
Tokyo has tons of above ground tracks and it’s fine. One big problem in american cities is that train tracks are built too high off the ground and aren’t human scale.
Paris has line 6 crossing it entirely and running right next to some very touristy places and it’s overall beautiful. Aerial lines don’t have to be eyesore.
I can see and hear the Overground from my kitchen window, I honestly think it makes the city more beautiful.
South of the Thames has a fair bit of elevated rail.
Even zone one does for the normal rail system, but I was imagining what it would be like with the deep lines elevated.
The first thing that sprang to mind was the movie Metropolis.