Baby Madison cars - how many road names did they come in?

Originals

PE

milwaukee

PRR

Crescent

Wabash

Blue Comet

NYC

Hallowe'en.

Yes, and the "Lionel Lines" car example originally posted by Montclair is a completely different car from the others as well, like the ones shown with the GG1 - a regular Madison car, which originated in the Postwar era. The rest are the so-called Baby Madisons, which have a different design and are a shorter car. The Baby Madisons are nice cars - very detailed molds, and the cars are not all the same; they have several variations of window placement, doors, and details that vary with the different cars, which is nice.

Wabash cars have been made in both sizes, as mentioned, but Lionel has not made the Crescent cars in the larger Madison car size, to my knowledge - only in the Baby Madisons and the scale heavyweights.

Lionel has indeed made the Baby Madisons in Tuscan - specifically, Pennsylvania - and in fact these have been made twice, first during the MPC era and again with the more modern version a few years ago. Another set that has been remade is the Alton, and I believe the Chessie as well. There was also a modern style set of Baby Madisons made in the Union Pacific roadname.

The newer styles have finished interiors with clear windows, and better overhead lighting. I have a set of the modern Pennsys and have put passenger figures in them, and they look great. The lighting is very nice, and in "evening" views of these cars they look just about like the scale versions, only shorter.

Another advantage of the newer style is that the tops can be removed with just two screws that are accessible from the bottom of the cars, so it's a snap. The older style required much more effort (if a bulb needed replacement, for example), including squeezing the sides and using something to pry the top off, while being careful not to damage the car.

they also made a MP set & NW set - think around 94-96

Does anyone have a side by side shot of the two?

Is this query limited to Lionel production, or would it include the small madisons produced by Williams?

I think it's confusing enough with just the Lionel versions

They also did a set over several years for TCA in the late 70's to early 80's.

Williams does not make 'baby' Madison cars.  They make a version of the original Postwar Style Madison car

So for MPC we have -

MILW

PRR

B&O

SOU

CNJ

Chessie

C&A

TCA

LTI -

WAB

CNW

NYC

N&W

MP

B&O

LLC -

C&A

PE

Pullman

Chessie

Strasburg

PRR

I'm sure I left some out somewhere

Not a "baby madison" car: 

  BTW:  Lionel will be again putting them to use with the MLB Phillies-Yankees-Cubs-Red Sox passenger sets due soon.

Silver...you are correct.  Thanks for the correct update of info!

As I mentioned above, UP. in fact, two different ones. Despite the picture, the yellow one is actually one of the modern sets, with clear windows, interiors, diaphrams, etc. There was also a single Madison car from the Western Union set.

Note: Those Chessies pictured above are the older MPC versions. There was also a modern set with the Chessie Steam Special set with a baby Berkshire steamer; these cars are the modern style with clear windows, interiors, etc.

Another set to add: the Santa Fe

Lionel 30121 Santa Fe Baby Madison Passenger

I have that chessie set in lionel it was made in 2005.