did lionel make a "O" scale 72 foot madison cars ?

Lionel cars tend be priced higher than other manufacturers. For 18" cars I'd look at MTH. They actually have a higher level of detail than the Lionel cars. Best bang for the buck are the ones made in the early 2000s that have interiors, but no figures. Then add your own. 5 car sets can usually be had in $150-200 range.

Pete  

Yes, you missed the closeout on them by a couple of years. Continue to look and you may find some with eastern sellers at below original market price

I'm with Pete, forum sponsor Arrons City Trains has them for a decent price considering shipping is free.

http://shop.aaronscitytrains.com/20-4061.html

Williams makes a fairly cheap set, and I like how they couple very closely. 

They don't have interiors but they could be added.

ETA: I live in St. Louis where the ATSF 5011 does. It is one impressive machine. 

Here are some pics for comparison.

Lionel car on the left and MTH car on the right. Both cars are ~2006 vintage.

This an earlier MTH car from around 2002. Figures and anti rattle bars were added to bring detailing closer to current production. Ignore the off color step as this was a repair project. The color is closer now.

I have green Pullmans from MTH, Lionel, K-Line, and Weaver from the mid '90s to current though none with silhouettes. They all look fine together. 18" K-Line cars in the yellow and black boxes could be considered as well. I would ignore those in the earlier black boxes as the trucks are very poor.

Pete

Tiffany,

   You might consider going to the train shows, sometimes you can pick up what you want at a reasonable price.  I have to tell you I only have a couple of the Lionels left,

when MTH came out with their real nice madisons around 2000 I picked up a few sets, I like the solid Silver & Silver with Black Roof PRR Cars the best, run them mostly behind my GG1's.  Having added people to the MTH Cars makes them look very realistic. 

Good luck with your search

PCRR/Dave