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Add detail to boxcars with open doors.  Add some crates, boxes, tarp load, or figures to your boxcars that have open doors.  There are even lumber, barrel, or bag loads you can place into an opened boxcar.  You can even add a fake wood flooring to add more detail.

Left over kit pieces or scrap can be used to create gondola scrap loads.  spray the pieces brown or gray and add your pigments, rust, dirt, or grime as you wish.

Every few months check and refresh your paint supplies.  Whichever paints you use acrylics, enamels, or other solvent-based paint it is a good practice to check up on your paints and to give them a good shaking.  Check your bottled paints, do they need to be refreshed with a dab of water or mineral spirits?  What about your marker\paint pens?  Then you might also want to do a spot check on your glues, putty, clay, stains, and pigments, to make sure they are in usable condition.

An easy way to enhance the look of any diesel locomotive is to blacken the grills and vents to provide more depth.  You can use a black wash to bring out the grill or vent details.  Weathering powders are extremely effective bringing out locomotive vent and grill details.

A quick and simple method to get rid of the plastic new freight car look is to spray a light coat of Dullcoat.  This will take away the 'toy' train look of your layout.  If you don't have any Testor's Dullcoat you can use any Matte Finish spray to get the same results.  Just a simple spray to each side and let dry.  This can be done to any plastic kits also.

Simple window shades made from masking tape.  Take the plain old masking tape roll, the off-white color and cut a piece off to place on the inside of the building window.  Usually covering the top half of the window is the way to go to show a half drawn window shade.  But to mix it up you can cover any amount of window to show a fully drawn window shade to a partially drawn window shade.  And they do make masking tape in various colors to match your need!

Paint your figures all flat black first, this way if you miss a spot or two it will look like shadowing.  Then start with the lighter colors and end with the darker colors for the clothing and skin.  Always use flat colored paints.

Unless you go the customized route for decals, you can purchase N scale decals to help decal your rolling stock, bridges, buildings, or locomotives. I usually find my N scale decals at train shows. There is always someone clearing out their N scale decals of what they have left or will never use.