Madison car primer

[needmoretrains]

I've always had a running love affair with the old Lionel Madison cars.  I have recently been looking on Ebay for a set and find the products since the postwar releases confusing.  I see baby sets, 60', and 70' cars.Tthe price range also has me wondering what the best selection would be.  I like the heft of the old cars but not the price.  I'd be pulling them with a postwar Berkshire.  Any thoughts which of these is the best bang for the buck?  Does anyone know of a place that will repaint an old Madison?  What about MTH vs Lionel?

 

Jerry?

[lionelsoni]

My 773s pull a train of the modern versions:

19011, Baggage, 1993
19015, Irvington, 1991
19016, Madison, 1991
19017, Manhattan, 1991
19018, Sager Place (observation), 1991
19075, Mazzone, 1997
19076, Caruso, 1997
19077, Raphael, 1997

[steinmike]

If price is a large consideration, then you might want to look at the "Baby Madisons" first produced by MPC in the 1970's and various forms since then.  There seem to be a lot of them around, they are available in a variety of road names, and since they are plastic and, for the most part, not heat stamped, they can be readily re-painted.

I run several sets behind "Baby" 6-8-6 turbines and they look pretty good.  I've added weights to each car (4 1/2 oz weights, one in each corner) to steady them up a bit.  The earliest versions (Milwaukee Road and PRR) have body-mounted non-operating couplers that were the source of complaints but have have no problems with them on level track.  Some later versions have had problems with the plastic (!) springs keeping the pick-up rollers in contact with the rail, but Lionel came up with a fix for that that is pretty easy to install.

Body types include a full baggage car, baggage / coach combine, diner, pullman / coach, and observation.

[nickaix]

Williams has also made Madison cars (similar to the postwar, not 'babies') in a number of different roadnames. We have some from the late 80s lettered for the Reading, and they look good and have served faithfully for over 20 years. They are a good match for the 90s Lionel Madison reissues--though they are much lighter (could be a plus) and have plastic couplers, which are not as nice as the postwar-style coupler on the Lionels (but still work fine).