peahrens

I'm an HO DCC guy, but know nothing about G scale. My nephew has a DC G scale LGB oval that he has installed above door height around the wall of their family room. I presume the track is LGB. I'm guessing the room is about 14' x 20' or so. He called me to bounce off some basic questions since he is not a long time train hobbyist. He is generally extremely handy. Any insight to these questions would be a good start. 1. He was wondering about whether he should connect his DC power to the track at more than one spot. I presume the main issue, with DC, is the risk of good continuity at rail joints, just as in HO. How reliable are the LGB track rail joints? Or would simply adding a 2nd power connection a the opposite side of the loop suffice for DC? If not, would wire rail jumpers be a good idea, rather than soldering rail joints (as in HO) on this large track? Is the track brass and can it be soldered? 2. He wonders whether to go with DCC for the fun of sounds, lighting control. Is it easy enough to convert a LGB loco with decoder, speaker, lights? Are the most popular U.S. DCC systems for this scale similar to HO; i.e., NCE, DigiTrax, other? I did advise that a 5A NCE system ran in the $600 range. 3. He has lighted passenger cars that work with DC. If he converted to DCC, would the car lighting require a decoder, etc? 4. If he converted to DCC, what are the issues for wiring, additional to what he might include just for reliable DC operation? Just a bus of appropriate size for the amps & wire run, plus feeders? 5. If he converted to DCC, would track cleanliness with the LGB track be a nuisance? I presume it is ok to inquire on G scale here, though I don't recall seeing such items here. If you suggest a better place, you can let me know by PM please. Thanks for any preliminary insight that I can pass on. Paul Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent