7th Sister Shortline Railroad

Today I went to visit Gillette's Castle in Haddam, CT. This was my first visit following extensive renovations by the State of Connecticut.

I was very disappointed with the lack of recognition of William Gillette's railroad, the 7th Sister shortline. Part of one car was on display in the Visitor Center and there were some pictures, but not much else.

I asked two of the employees about the train. The first told me that it had been sold to Lake Compounce and was still there. (My last visit to Lake Compounce was 5 years ago and the Gillette train was gone then). The second mentioned that the train would be returned to the castle for display only.

Does anyone have any idea of the status of the train? It is amazing that something that integral to the Castle and its grounds could be be so completely ignored.

Thank you.

Last I had heard is that the Friends of the Gillette Castle have both the trains, having gotten them back from Lake Compounce. There is a cosmetic restoration planned, but I'm still waiting to hear more details. I believe originally there was one steam and one battery powered train that Gillette used to run, he would run the battery train while the steamer was getting fired up. There are no plans to make the trains operational, just restoration for display. Guess it depends on who you talk to down there, I got loads of info when I was down there.

Scott,

Thanks for the answer. It is still mind boggling that with the amount of money that was spent on the Castle renovations, they still insist on treating the train as if it never existed. The building that Gillette used as the engine house (and used to be the gift shop) is also gone, although this may have been removed to install a handicap ramp. We did hike along the right of way. The engineering is very impressive with cuts, trestles and even a curved tunnel.

In any event, it is good to hear that the train has been preserved. Thanks again for the information.

I dont think the group is intentionally omitting the train- why don't you ask them? Maybe they ran out of funds to do everything they wanted. And most likely, they decided that the train is not the focal point of the museum experience.

I visited the castle maybe 15 years ago, I remember some track was still in place and there was a sign explaining that this was the Seven Sisters Railroad, the gift shop was the enginehouse, and the train was at Lake Compounce... I didn't know you could hike the right of way.

I'll see if I can obtain any further information about the train. The restoration funds appear to have been meant for the Castle itself which was in need of repair.

The railroad is marked much better than it was in the past. A map can be obtained at the ticket counter that shows the railroad along with all of the trails. The right of way is still plainly visible in most locations. The only places where it was difficult to tell exactly where the tracks were was right at "Grand Central Station" and where the tracks ran along the entrance road.

Back in the early 90s, we went for a bike ride, across the river on the ferry, and up to the castle. Me and some friends took our bikes along the trails, through the tunnel, and then to the north side down some of the hiking trails and over the dilapidated bridges. We were passing our bikes between us since the bridges were unsafe to say the least, and we were wondering if those 4" boards would support us, or whether we'd be cut to bits by the jagged rocks in the river below.

Later I found out that these paths were part of Gillette's designed hiking trails and rather the railroad, which ran at a different elevation and location.

I haven't been to the castle since before the restoration. That's a shame that the 'roundhouse' is gone. It would be great to see the train/cars brought back and put on display, if nothing else, at 'Grand Central Station'.

-Jay H.

Bump. I overheard someone talking about the place today, sounds interesting!