I have felt the same about the caboose for a long time. I build them and sell them on ebay and have found a market for cabooses that come close to the host RR's 'crummys'.
Stay with Atlas and Kato for DCC right now. Life-like is really good, but not as DCC friendly as the other two. On ebay, you should be able to buy a DCC ready loco for a reasonable price. Look at the description closely to make sure they are DCC ready.
Hello. I'm new to this forum. I model the railroads of the Pacific Northwest centered around Spokane in the late 40's and early 50's. I also build cars from old used cars. Mostly rolling stock that is not readily available in N Scale and then sell them. My layout is in my home and is 11x13...