In Part 3 of the Soon to be 10 year old series from 2012, it starts with a brief introduction by Tom McComas about how many Standard Gauge Trains and Accessories that John DeSantis collected over the Years. Now on With the Show! John Lives in an 18,000 Square foot 31 room Victorian Townhouse built in 1868. It took 10 years to restore the 19th century mansion in its original condition. It has 14 ft high ceilings, and curved stairs measured at 6 foot wide. John's first train from 1954 was a lionel 1835 steamer with blue and silver coaches. Over the years, John collected Every Standard Gauge train set such as the 384E freight set for Example. He also has a pair of Dorfan cranes. Vintage photographs of John's youth, and also in the Pittsburgh area like the interior of the Electric Interurban shops. Not to Mention Some Covers of Lionel catalogs and books. Speaking of Books, John's first book was the trains of Lionel's Standard Gauge Era from 1964 by Hal carstens. The original Owners of Railfan and Railroad Magazine which has since been sold to White River Productions in the Second half of 2014. Back in those days, a Lionel Standard Gauge Boxcar was sold for only $3.95. The 500 series freight car was a dollar. The Double track signal bridge was $15. On the layout where there are Mostly Red painted passenger sets, John Still has an American Flyer Union Station. He also made a meet with early collector W. Graham Claytor, who was of course Amtrak's first president.

Moving on to the Layouts of DeSantis, the first one shows a Lionel Dealer Display. Here a Gray 408E is on a Passenger run with several accessories. John also talks about the sizes of the layouts that he wanted over the years, as well as paying $35.00 for the Hell Gate Bridge. We'll See some more layouts later.

For Now, let's look at the boxes. They're mostly from Lionel, but there are some from Ives & American Flyer. Plus Dorfan.

Next, he talks about some more legendary collectors, such as W Graham Claytor of course, as well as Louis Hertz, Lou Reidman, and Ward Kimball. He also talks about the 1957 lionel archives. Amazingly enough, John Still has a prototype of the Number 5 steam engine from 1906.

Afterwards, some photos of the First Amtrak President's Collection were included. Claytor has trolleys and passenger sets. In the early 70s, John created a Public display of running standard Gauge trains at Pittsburgh near Christmas. He also talks about his first TCA meet with his own original black and white stills. As always, John has Walls of Standard Gauge trains each. He also talks about the variations and copycats of the model companies' own train sets.

Back to the prototypes, another look at the 1906 steam engine is shown, as well as a CB&Q Caboose from American Flyer number 4021, a New haven Boxcar, the American Flyer 4688, the CB&Q boxcar number 4018 (A reference to the surviving Union Pacific Big Boy in Texas), an AF 4-4-2 number 4693, a red electric number 4637, and Tom McComas talks about John's first Prototype: a Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Slopeback Tender. On the Green State Set prototype, the coaches have different names: Star Crest, Van Rensselaer, and Vermilion Valley. There is also a New York Central Tender that never went into production, as well as a pink 408E and a crackled green 408E. The 400E with a red stripe was also a prototype, as well as another 400E in crackled black paint. The Lionel 219 Crane car has a blue spot. as well as other cars: the 212 gondola, the 514R refrigerator car, the 217 caboose, another refrigerator car with number 37 in blue paint, and the 215 Sunoco tank car.

Back to the layouts however, there is a tour of each and every train room. Each room has a company that makes its own version of Standard Gauge sets. For Lionel, there are over 1100 pieces on display. There are also 4 layouts: 1 from Lionel, 1 from American Flyer, 1 From Ives, and 1 in combination mode. Ives was the third largest of the big 3, and the layout shows it. The American flyer layout has more accessories. With Lionel, You can build an entire city. Lionel also made figures of their own.

A brief history of Standard Gauge is included, Beginning with yet another look at the 1906 engine. As well as a Mention of Joshua Lionel Cowen, plus a look at vintage catalog covers and pages. Not to Mention Boucher, Dorfan, General trains of chicago, and european makers Bing & Marklin. Here a New York Central 4-4-2 from Marklin in the 20s is operating on the Ives Layout. When Ives went out of Business in 1928, Lionel & American Flyer decided to buy it out. At the transition of the 20s to the 30s which is also the beginning of the Great depression, American Flyer Drops out of the partnership with Lionel Operating Ives alone.

In addition to the Steam and electric freight and passenger sets, John also collected various trolleys over the years. The first Trolleys were made by Lionel. Summer trolleys are open cars. A look at the 1900s catalog pages of the trolley is shown. The next level is an open ended trolley without any doors, which later moves up to the closed door trolleys. The Lionel Trolley painted 100% yellow is extremely rare. The number 9 trolley is not only rare, but its the only Lionel Trolley with twin motors. Over the years, DeSantis has collected 60 Prewar Lionel Trolleys. The Trolleys were never shown in any other Lionel Catalogs in the Mid-teens.

Now it time to take a Tour of John's Lionel Room. As you enter, there are vintage photographs of kids playing with the trains. Then comes the floor toys in the 1850s & 60s starting with the Dandy for example, followed by the mechanical wind ups and live steam. John also has the 2 7/8th gauge gondola, the 5 B&O, another look at the 1906 engine, and other trains that are chronicled counter clockwise from 1906-1913, and again from 1913-1923 when Lionel revamps their trains after 1923. John also has more prototypes of the State set, as well as the tenders. The green 408E is the rarest. The 381 is a single motor model. It Even shows the original boxes. Also in the Lionel Room, there are multiple variations of the blue comet. Adjacent to them is a little number 8 set. More catalog covers are shown.

After that's finished a tour of the Ives Room is shown. Here the white set is the Gem of the Ives company. There are also different variations of The Southern Pacific Lines Sets, A very Rare 1928 3245R short cab with Ives plates, and a blue 3245R. John also talks about Wanamaker Lines. The Wanamaker sets are super rare to find nowadays. Here a 3243 Electric is shown.

Moving onto the American Flyer Room, There are 13 variations of the President's special, as well as each and every 4-4-2 steam locomotives, the 4011 5 window caboose, the rest are 6 windows, the 4010 tank cars, The original Prototype of the 3235, the 4693 with a back up light and 12 wheels on the tender, and an operating baggage car.

The Everybody else room, is a room with other prewar toy train companies: Dorfan, General Trains, Bing, Boucher, and Marklin. Dorfan was the 4th largest standard gauge train company back in those years. DeSantis also talks about why Toy Trains Are Irresistible to people of all ages. Besides the Trains, John also has a Blimp in the Ceiling.

DeSantis talks about the Million dollar shot, known as the behind the scenes set up for the front cover of the DVD case, using which locomotives would be perfect for the photograph as well as the Harmony Creamery Cars.

Finally John Talks about What the term "On Collecting" Means. Some extra footage from TM's new Standard gauge studio layout is shown, as well as how he response to some people if John's is still finished with trains and he responded yes, but doesn't Solicit them.

The King of toy trains according to John is the Boucher Blue Comet. It looks realistic, and its still rare to find.

Before the Closing Credits, the small electric with 2 cars and a caboose had an unexpected blooper.

Overall, this is a very good sequel to enjoy again and again. Plus its still free to watch on Amazon Instant Prime Video.

Additional remarks by Steamboy:
Narration: Just enough.
Would kids enjoy this? Yes.
Image quality: Excellent!
DVD Value: Good Value
Recommend to others? Definitely.