The interior decor of business cars changed through the years to reflect the times. But because the cars were expensive, rather than being replaced wholesale by newer more modern cars, the older cars were kept. So the decor of a lot of business cars tended to lag the times. With regard to the Nomad and the Cinco Animas, I think what you see today looks more like their decor in the 1880's rather than in their more recent service as DRGW business cars. I vaguely remember the William Jackson Palmer being rather spartan. Even today on a big rich railroad like the the UP, many of their business cars are very old cars that have been updated to varying degrees.
One other impact of the business cars is back in the day most secretaries to the senior executives of railroads were male, even in a day when female secretaries were the norm. That was at least partly because the executives took their secretaries with them on the business cars for extended trips, since there was work to be done, correspondence to be handled. And traveling with a female secretary apparently did not sit well with the railroad wives. And interestingly those male secretary jobs often had a lot of upward mobility since if you impressed the boss he was in a position to get you promoted. So a lot of senior executives started their railroad careers as secretaries.
And keep in mind back in the day there were two different classes of PV's. The railroads had "business cars" that were indeed used for business. But as noted above the same kind of cars were also the private jets of the railway age and a lot of rich folks who had nothing to do with the railroads used them simply as a way to travel in comfort. The big resorts of the day often have private car tracks to accommodate their upscale clientele who either owned PV's or rented them for a trip.
JBWX
