I like S.......L......O.....W.  I don't know if it old age or what but I run my trains at more realistic and slower speeds especially on my small around-the-room layout.  I don't smell roses but I do the enjoy the train smells.  Things just are moving too fast in the outside world today.  Slow is not a bad thing to me.

Steve, Lady and Tex

While I like slow, too, I would like to have a mag-lev train, oh yeah!  That would be incredible.

Please!  Slower is better (especially for most home-sized layouts.)  It took 20 years of begging to get the manufacturers to develop mechanisms that run at realistic speeds.

Even a mag-lev, Thalys, Acela, etc. would still be very limited around the equivalent of an O72 curve.

If you like fast trains, most Postwar and MPC steam run very fast and provide plenty of thrills.  My brother & I used to always race our trains when we were kids.  Williams run pretty fast too (except the 4-6-0 which is a more recent design.)

Have you ever messed with some of the larger-scale slot cars like Carrera and Scalextric?  You might find these would sate your appetite for speed in a 3-dimensional scale model.

I have seen some rudimentary Maglev models in the past, mostly engineering student type stuff.  It would be fun but definitely a niche among niches.   Also running at prototypical scale speeds would have potential to actually injury someone during the inevitable disaster that occurs with toys.  Something that weighs several pounds can pack a whallop if it is going fast enough when it hits a wall or kid with his face by the track.

I would love to see some conventional high speed train models such as an Acela I might be able to afford and also some Alstom high speed trains from Europe. 

I have had the same thought - where are the model HSR's? It would certainly take a good bit of space, especially straight track, and you'd have to provide a means for protecting spectators due to the speed. But it'd be really cool to see a high speed rail system modeled. I do have a Carrera slot car track set up and it's a lot of fun, but HSR is a whole new dimension. 

Here ya go! All you have to do is supply your own liquid nitrogen. 

Maglev models and demo-sets

That's what I'm talk'in bout fast trains, none of that scale down speed stuff over here. I know the real trains in America are not that fast but I like fast.  I have an (don't kill me) HO ICE train from PIKO and that thing is cool. It's a shame we don't have an O guage version.