2625, 2627 & 2628 Madison-Style; Irvington, Madison & Manhattan

Production: 1946 - 1950

History
The popular 2625 Irvington, 2627 Madison and 2628 Manhattan passenger cars are commonly referred to by collectors as Lionel's Madison style passenger cars. The look and design of these highly detailed and scale-like passenger cars were a carry-over item from their prewar product line. It is interesting to note, most of Lionel's prewar carry-over trains -- such as the automobile box car, crane car, single dome tank car or N5C caboose -- only remained in their product line for a year or two until a more updated and realistic version was designed. However, the beauty, realism and popularity of the Madison-style passenger cars remained as an available item for five years -- until 1950!

During the five year production cycle of these passenger cars, there were several noticeable and subtle changes made each year. Below is a summary of the more noteworthy changes -- although other less obvious production changes also occured:

• 1946: The 2625 Irvington was the only number and road name available. Lionel included three 2625's Irvington passenger cars in all 1946 sets.

• 1947: Lionel expanded their offering to three road names: Irvington, Madison and Manhattan. However, all three carried the same number: 2625. All 1947 passenger sets offered by Lionel included one of each road name, but all numbered 2625.

• 1948 & 1949: Lionel eventually gave each passenger car its own number & name; 2625 Irvington, 2627 Madison and 2628 Manhattan.

• 1950: The individual road names & numbers continued, but the window inserts were upgraded from a frosted only insert to ones now including passenger silhouettes on each side. 

Lastly, the Irvington & Madison names are local towns near Lionel's New Jersey corporate office and manufacturing facility while Manhattan was borrowed from their main sales office in Manhattan, New York.

Features
Standard features on the 2625, 2627 & 2628 passenger cars include: tuscan painted bakelite bodies, white side lettering, window inserts plus four functional opening doors -- one at each corner. Additionally, each car included a sheet metal frame with two premium six-wheel passenger car trucks, dual interior lights and functional coil couplers.

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information
Original boxes for these passenger cars are rarer than the cars themselves, be prepared to look for a long time for a nice set of individual component boxes.

Number & Name Variation - All Madison Cars have painted tuscan bodies with white side lettering with the most recognizable differences being the available numbers and road names on each side. For the more detailed collector, there are other more subtle changes made throughout the five year production cycle.

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