Willy Kaemena's life is a similitude of a train journey. All along his career as engineer for a large German company, he stopped by several countries - from Austria to Argentina, from Brazil to Iran, from the Dominican Republic to Pakistan, passing by Vietnam, Syria, Philippines, Malaysia, Spain and Portugal - to manage the projects he was responsible for. There, he lived and worked, before...leaving station and heading for a new destination and a new construction site.

Now on retirement, Willy has had two great addictions during his life, which have become a leitmotif: one is photography and the other...can you guess?

Yes, if your answer was trains, you were right...

Willy entered into QTVR's technology is 1997, shortly after buying is first digital cam, a Ricoh RDC2, being hence a pioneer in the field of digital photography. With the development of cubic VR in 2000 - he had fell speachless in front of a cubic panorama of the Grand Central Station in NY - he got his first capable VR equipment in 2002 (at that time he used to shot with a Nikon 5000 equipped with a Fisheye Converter Lens). in 2004 he bought his first digital DSL cam - a Nikon D70 - and started taking cubic VRs of showable quality. One of his first panorama trips with that equipment brought him to East Asia where he shot panoramas in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur Malacca and Manila. You can see the panoramas of this trip here.

During his professional life he used QTVR a lot in his work, in order to enable complete virtual tours, so that the project team at the head office could see what was going on, when and where he was responsible for the construction of huge power plants. He used to shot during his spare time, when he even embarked upon (ops, boarded!) another personal project, by which he panoramized the coaches of hundreds of trains, in order to show to the public how comfortable a journey by train can be.

So said, if you're just waiting for the train...here it is. Or - even better - here they are! You just have to chose your starting destination and your destination!

The Alfa Pendular is the name given to the high speed train, which travels at 220 km/h in Portugal, connecting the cities of Albufeira, Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Faro, Lisbon, Porto and Santarem, to name but a few. Equipped with a tilting technology, the train can negotiate curves at higher speed that other conventional ones. Sitting within the comfortable carriages, one can experience the Portuguese mainland, while sitting comfortably on the carriages.

click here to view the Alfa Pendular exterior panorama

click here to view the Alfa Pendular exterior panorama

Actually, Portugal isn't but a waypoint. Willy traveled all around Europe by train, mounting and dismounting from Inter cities, City Express and double deckers, to take panoramic images of the stations and hop on a TGV or a CNL, in order to get up in Hambourg, after a night aboard.

The City Night Line is a network of high speed train which links Switzerland, Germany and Austria. An experience in itself, the train connects a variety of cities in a night travel, meanwhile offering a variety of accomodations, which suits any budget. The comfort is maximum and one can be sure to arrive at destination after a good tight sleep...

click here to view the austrian railways business class

click here to view the CityNightLine Double Decker Sleeping Car

Attentive traveller, Willy even took interesting panoramic images for the posterity, in order to show the mayor lift ups which have occurred in 2006 to the German Intercity Express, a model for a whole virtual tour.
The ICE is a system of highspeed trains which runs mains in Germany and its neighboring countries, which came into operation in 1991. An high standard of technology pampers the travelers, who are able either to surf the net or to hold meetings, while crossing Europe at speeds which ranges from 160 km/h to 300 km/h.

click here to view ICE1 First Class Seating with Video Screens

click here to view ICE1 First Class Seating

click here to view Intercity Express (ICE1) from 1991

click here to view ICE1 Bord Bistro after redesign ( March 2008)

Denmark was amongst Willy latest additions, where he did not forget to take pictures of a Diesel ICE on a ferryboat; of Koebenhavn train station, and the newest S-bahn of the capital, which - together with bike - is amongst the most famous means of travel in this city of the North.

click here to view Diesel ICE on the ferryboat to Denmark

click here to view Train Station Koebenhavn H

click here to view DSB S-Bane Koebenhavn

But the old continent, with its several trains, connections and stations (such as St. Pancreas, Paddington, Berlin and Bremen) isn't the only one present in Willy's portfolio, who immortalized the interior of Austrian, Hungarian and Czech trains, to name but a few. The engineer - in fact - traveled on the Amtrak California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco, in a stretch of 3923 km, on a journey which was duly photographed, passing by Burlington, Osceola, Denver, Grand Junction, Salt Lake City, Winnemucca, Reno and Sacramento, and hence crossing the borders of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California, losing oneself in the spectacular sceneries which continually change from the Sightseers' carriages.

click here to view Chicago Union Station

click here to view Amtrak Sightseer Car - California Zephyr

click here to view Amtrak California Zephyr Dining Car

click here to view Amtrak California Zephyr Chicago-San Francisco bedroom

Moreover, he has an impressive gallery of trains from Middle East and South America, such as the First Class wagon which leaves Aleppo to Latakia and costs 1.00 €; or the new trainset, which connects Damascus to Aleppo, or - again - the old Siemens wagons which are still used today in Buenos Aires' underground...

click here to view Aleppo to Latakia at 1.00 Euros Syrian Railway

click here to view CFS Syria New Trainset Damascus Aleppo Jan 2007

click here to view Subte Linea H Coche Siemens

...And even cable cars in San Francisco, shot during the International Virtual Reality Photography Association conference in June 2007 Berkeley.

click here to view Cable Car in San Francisco (California St.)

click here to view San Francisco old italian trolley (tram) in daily service

Will's passion is so much appreciated by the public that his panoramic images are used as links by the excellent railway travel site Seat61.com which covers worldwide rail travel.

And, as he says, retired persons are always very busy, but he plans at covering more railways worldwide, as time permits...

The train panoramas you saw in this article are a small appetizer if compared to what you can find on Willy's website here.

Links:
Willy's panorama homepage
Email: wkaemena at mac.com