Just thinking about what you've said about the decorations in these cars and in particular how you devised the behind-the-bar artwork:
Murals seem to have been a big feature of streamliner interiors. The Railroad advertising of the time included a lot of color images although for some lines that I have modeled (MKT/Frisco in particular), the only photos of car interiors I have found are in black and white. The artwork included many city skylines and etched glass partitions were another big feature. These are examples from the Texas Special:
I have not tried to replicate these in the cars that I have detailed, which mostly have pure fantasy schemes. My Texas Special observation car has posters and other artwork relating to the MKT itself or the historical figure, Stephen F. Austin, for which the car was named. I placed them on my representations of glass partitions. The MKT poster on the top below is my favorite, a contemporary stylized image of the station in San Antonio (the perspective is greatly exaggerated):
The same car has a totally non-prototypical bar and my version of a card playing area. The "wood" front of the bar is an inkjet print on self-adhesive label paper:
Reverting to UP observation cars, the one I am working on is Lionel's ABS plastic 21" City of San Francisco dome lounge. The bar in the belly of the car has a patriotic theme - far more elaborate than the prototype I am sure (I have not yet seen/been in the real car). Consistent with that theme, and because there's no end of wartime railroad posters, I have strategically placed one opposite a car window and another is placed elsewhere:
P.S. Almost all of the glassware and other small details used in these cars is "quarter scale" 3D printed stuff; the playing cards are also quarter scale. I use the same supplier mentioned in the original post.
