What's a Madison car?
John
Madison car is a commonly used but incorrect model train enthusiast term (usually O Gauge) for steel heavyweight passenger cars.
It's origins date back to when Lionel first manufactured a model of a heavyweight car with the car name "Madison" on the side.
No one in the prototype world uses the term "Madison" when referring to heavyweights.
Rusty
I wonder is the Pullman Co ever named a car Madison?
All my Milwaukee books say the road did their own sleepers but what the heck. It's my railroad. I like the looks of a couple odd ball cars once in a while. Don
I wonder is the Pullman Co ever named a car Madison?
There is a fellow that developed a data base containing information on all Pullman cars constructed. The link is:
http://www.pullmanproject.com/Database.htm
A quick search of the database shows there was a car constructed named Madison. Plan 2410 (don't remember of the top of my head what floor arrangement this is), originally built 0ct 13, 1910. Originally painted PRR red, repainted to Pullman green 8/26/20, and then back to PRR red on 5/23/25. When the Pullman divestiture occurred in 1948 this car was transferred to PRR ownership but leased back to Pullman for operation. It was withdrawn from the lease on Jan 28, 1953 which I assume means it ceased revenue operation on that date.
Ken
All my Milwaukee books say the road did their own sleepers but what the heck. It's my railroad. I like the looks of a couple odd ball cars once in a while. Don
Seems to me I read somewhere that the Milwaukee would occasionally pick up some through sleepers from the Pennsy in Chicago. There might even have been a picture. If I remember where I saw it I will post more.
I'm looking for 15 inch Pullmans with the correct color. Once had a set of MTH's lettered Pullman but the color was definitely not Pullman green.
Lew Schneider
GGD offered an 8-1-2 series and 3rd Rail/Sunset offered a 12-1 series, both in Pullman Green with gold lettering for PULLMAN above the windows. American Standard kits may be cut to any length and painted any color. Jerry Williams offered the first 17" set of five heavyweight cars. An observation, three coach and a baggage car. Four lettered Pullman and the baggage car was Railway Express Agency. K-Line offered two 17 1/2 inch Pullman cars whose window arrangement resembled 8-1-2s. The third car was a diner with Pullman above the windows. First produced about 1998. Scale Coat offered a small rattle can - PULLMAN GREEN. Please keep in mind that a model railroad manufacturer may call a color Pullman Green but there is no guarantee it would match the Pullman Green which left the Pullman factory. Also, ballast and weather could change the 'look' of Pullman Green.
Pullman Pool 8-1-2 by 3rd Rail/Sunset
Pullman Pool 12-1 by GGD
Santa Fe observation car with sleeping accommodations by Williams
Santa Fe 12-1 Pullman sleeping car by GGD.
Pullman Pool one drawing room, 30 chair heavyweight car by Joe Fischer. Photos courtesy of Bill Davis at American Scale Models.
John in Lansing, ILL
Lew, what is your color reference for Pullman Green? I tried to match some MTH cars and tried Scalecoat, Poly Scale, Floquil, and Tru Color. None matched each other and none matched the MTH car.
Pete
Well, Lionel made these .... Not as fancy as the heavy weights above.
Steve
Initially, Pullman cars were colored brown. The company changed to green around 1900. As a retired UPS'er, I'm familiar with the story of how UPS adopted Pullman Brown as its now ubiquitous company brand. Here's a link to an article with an interesting tie-in to the Pullman Brown/Green story and UPS:
https://utahrails.net/pass/pullman-green.php
Bill
Just looked at some of my K-line Milwaukee Road cars and noticed in small lettering "Pullman". They are painted in Milwaukee colors but must be Pullman cars. Never noticed that before. Don
Those would have been cars owned by the Milwaukee but operated, crew, supplies and etc by Pullman personel
I have the 6 cars (4 +2) that mikey and Ed h. were talking about in their post. Only one of the cars says New York Central, the others are marked as Pullman. I bought these cars about the same time as I bought the vision line Hudson. They are very very sharp. For some reason, I don't think they sold that well.
mth made a set number 33-6238, 15" railking cars 2008 catalog. The train loft in winston salem nc and valley farm market in weedville pa may have them. I purchased a set a few years ago , nice details
@marker posted:I think both Lionel and MTH made Pullman car sets. I've had them both.
I had a set of Lionel passenger cars I think were made for the Commodore Vanderbuilt back in the late 90's. As I remember, all the cars were Pullman, the baggage car was NYC.
Pete is aware of the set.
scale rail - Your post above is why I bought the sets. I model the Santa Fe, but Pullmans ran on all lines. At the time there wasn't any Santa Fe heavyweights except for early K-Line cars with trucks that fell apart. The Pullman branded heavyweights filled the bill. The NYC baggage car would have modeled a transcontinental foreign head end car.
Santa Fe like most other roads always had head end from other roads, especially on secondary trains.
BTW That NYC set seems like it is always available and usually sells for less than other similar sets. The cars are very nice, but they have silhouette passengers, but they are easily changed.
I'm not sure about the dates, but something else, the observation was Pullman on the side, but the drumhead was NYC.
How would one go about replacing the silhouettes? Could they be converted to full interiors with passengers?
John
@lionelflyer posted:How would one go about replacing the silhouettes? Could they be converted to full interiors with passengers?
John
John, Replace the floor mounted light sockets with overhead lighting strips. Flatten the floor and place card stock(with the pattern of your choice for the carpet) to cover the holes. Add any interior you desire and replace the silhouette pieces with clear plastic. John in Lansing, ILL
Some Pullman cars carried the RR name. Was this after Pullman had to legally divest itself from actual car ownership (and just stay with the staffing and provisioning)?
@lionelflyer posted:How would one go about replacing the silhouettes? Could they be converted to full interiors with passengers?
John
If you already have these cars it might make sense to upgrade them. Not so much if you are thinking of buying cars with silhouettes and then upgrading them. Adding the seats and lighting would add up to way more than finding cars with seats and figures already. K-Line, MTH, and Lionel have all made 15” and 18” sets lettered for Pullman with interiors and figures. Lionel has included Pullman heavyweights with other cars lettered for Santa Fe and New York Central, likely other roads too.
The most economical route for 18” cars are the MTH cars made from around 2000-2005. These have interiors with overhead lighting but no figures. Easy enough to add just those.
Pete
@rattler21 posted:John, Replace the floor mounted light sockets with overhead lighting strips. Flatten the floor and place card stock(with the pattern of your choice for the carpet) to cover the holes. Add any interior you desire and replace the silhouette pieces with clear plastic. John in Lansing, ILL
Hi John,
Thanks for the reply. I was going to get rid of the cars that I have to get ones with interiors. I'm sure it is more economical to do as you suggest and reclaim these cars. Do you know if there is someone who sells pre-fab interiors that might fit?
John
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