Madison Re-Issue: Part of a set?

I just looked. In the 1991 Book Two catalog they are shown on pages 34 and 35 behind what looks like the Hudson. But only the rear portion of the loco and tender are visible. The engine is mostly hidden by an inserted picture.

Thanks, CW;

The inside cover of the same catalog shows the pass cars behind the scale Hudson.

Not sold as a set w/engine. Traditionally, they were shown behind the Hudson and the GG-1 (green) in the PW catalogs. 

Lionel LTI apparently wanted to display the Irvington car set with the scale Hudson much like old Lionel did in the prewar era with the Manhattan cars.

Most of the time, I see people pair them with the semi-scale Hudsons like the 1984 783 and the 1987 785. They match them much better in my opinion.

Photos of Lionel's famous 1949 showroom layout in NYC always showed the equivalent postwar Madison cars behind a green Pennsy GG-1 on the subway loops.  So that's how I've chosen to pair my 1991 re-issues -- which were available for separate-sale as I recall.  An add-on baggage car was subsequently offered for this "set" too. 

Years later, Lionel also issued 7 or 8 similarly styled Madison cars in the "Legends of Lionel" series -- named after Lionel execs and postwar engineers.

In 2002, Lionel reissued it's "50th Anniversary Set", updating the Madison cars to 18" length with detailed interiors -- led by a NYC Hudson J3a.  The 18" cars look much more appropriate behind a scale-sized Hudson, whereas the 15" cars are best paired with traditional-sized GG-1's (IMHO).  Five of these 18" Madison cars were included in the 2002 set, and a matching StationSounds diner (relatively tough to find nowadays) was offered in the Vol 2 catalog that year.

David

Ok, so from the historical perspective, tell me if I'm close:

The 1937 Hudson was shown with the RailChief cars.

The 1946 and newer Hudsons had the Madison cars.

GG-1's only had the Madison cars.

So in 1990/91, Lionel made RailChief cars and Madisons, but only showed Madison's behind a Hudson?
I'm not trying to be a PITA; I have the Madison and scale Hudson (1990), and just wanted to know if I should show it with the Madisons or spring for the RailChief cars as well....

In 1941, I believe lionel had a Hudson locomotive that was sold with the then new Irvington cars as  lionel referred to them. The 4 scale freight cars were shown with the PRR B-6 scale switcher.  I think the catalog display in the 1991 catalog marks 50 years since the original offerings from  the 1941 cats. One might argue that those offerrings may have represented the highpoint of Lionel product. And if you were a collector with limited space, those two engines and the 4 passenger cars and 4 freight cars might represent a most complete collection of the best.

LIRR Steamer posted:

... I think the catalog display in the 1991 catalog marks 50 years since the original offerings from  the 1941 cats. One might argue that those offerrings may have represented the highpoint of Lionel product. And if you were a collector with limited space, those two engines and the 4 passenger cars and 4 freight cars might represent a most complete collection of the best.

Interesting point!!!  I never put 2-and-2 together to note that the 1991 offerings were re-issued at the 50-year mark from the originals in 1941.    I don't recall if the word-smithing in the 1991 catalog ever noted that tid-bit of information.

FWIW, I definitely agree that the 1991 Madison cars along with what Lionel called its "semi-scale", phenolic-body freight car offerings the same year (catalog'd with the B6 switcher) represent the epitome of Lionel's "best" for those of us who weren't around when the original pieces of rolling stock were made.  For all the trains that I purchased during the 1980's and 1990's and sold in recent years, it's EXACTLY the items we're talking about here that I've chosen to keep in my collection for nostalgic reasons.  

David