OMG! 60th Anniversary Book

What do you think Dr Chris?

So much going on here at BPT and at my other home with Xmas/New Year, I've barely had time to look at it and form an complete impression, but I've certainly enjoyed flicking back-and-forth in a random sort of way.  I haven't really worked out exactly what it's trying to achieve yet, - it's very comprehensive, but not complete, and there's a lot of duplication.

The yellow section at the back shows new releases year by year, but the exact same pictures are also used in the sections dealing with different categories of trains, for example in the very first (red) section, Shinkansen.

Example: let's look at the Series 300 Nozomi, coverage of this is almost complete but not quite. In the yellow section we see each variant appearing by year, while in the red section they're just anywhere, thus:

p.164 (& p.23), 1992, the original white-roof 2-speed Nozomi (2スピードのぞみ)
p.165 (& p.23), 1993, Doll Play Nozomi (人形あそびのぞみ号)
p.167 (& p.18), 1996, Voice Control Nozomi (音声指令のぞみ号) - actually released October 1995 but the 1996 catalogue was the first to show it
p.174, 2001, the unique transitional 2-car First Try Set (300系新幹線ファーストトライセットしろ)
p.174 (& p.23), 2002, the revised grey-roof 300 srs Shinkansen (300系新幹線)
p.208 (& p.24), 2012, Goodbye 300 srs Shinkansen (さよなら300系新幹線)
p.223 (& p.23), 2019, Srs 300 & N700A Nozomi double set with lights (ライト付 パパとぼくの300系＆N700typeAのぞみダブルセット)

then we need to go back to the dark green section to find two more variants:
p.127, 1999, Infrared Control Nozomi GO! set (赤外線コントロール未来のぞみGO!)
p.127, '1993', Radio Control Nozomi set (R/C プラレール のぞみ号セット). There's a misprint here, it says 1993 but it should be 1998.

BUT there's no trace of the unique 4-car 300 srs Nozomi that came in the 1996 Nozomi 4-car Formation Loop Set (のぞみ号4両編成ループセット)

I guess I was hoping for a chronological layout more like that used in the 1997 Plarail Encyclopedia, which you can see at Sunhuntin's website (as 'TAKARA CATALOGUE BOOK'), the 300 series is pages 20-23. This gives precise release dates and also the dates when manufacture ceased. Mind you there's a lot of padding in that that I wouldn't want!

The monorail section doesn't show the Shonan 5000 series Red Line, nor does it appear in the pages for 2014 where it should be.

You won't find any Plarail Day / Plarail Expo specials, competition prizes, and so on, but there are at least some limited edition items, such as the 2011 Plarail Shop Blue Stream (プルーストリーム).

So, a few gripes, but am I glad I got it? YES!  Could I do without it? NO!!!