page_title: Sandy Hook Proving Ground
section_title: Base railroad
hierarchical_section_title: Sandy Hook Proving Ground / Base railroad
caption_attribution_description: Abandoned concrete gun platforms, formerly part of the Proof Battery of the Sandy Hook Proving Ground, in use from 1901-1919. To the right are protective walls, or "traverses". Soldiers used a 20-foot gantry crane on rails to lift guns and carriages onto the platforms to be tested, or "proved". Sandy Hook is now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area; these platforms are near North Beach.
context_page_description: The Sandy Hook Proving Ground was a military facility along the Atlantic coast of New Jersey established by the Secretary of War on August 7, 1874, to serve as the United States Army's first proving ground for the testing of ordnance and materiel. The facility was located at Sandy Hook, a narrow coastal spit of land, approximately 6 miles in length and 0.5 miles wide, in Middletown Township in Monmouth County. The facility was operated in conjunction with the adjoining Fort Hancock. Essentially abandoned in 1919 for a larger facility, the area was left to degrade and most of the structures still remain today. The proving ground and parts of Fort Hancock are now property of the National Park Service and mostly closed to the public.
context_section_description: In 1889, a narrow gauge railroad was constructed to bring equipment and guns from the docks to the proof battery. In 1893, a standard gauge railroad was completed to the mainland and connected with commercial railroad lines that were originally built to allow civilians from steamships to travel down the shore. It is believed that the New Jersey Southern Railroad had a dock in Horseshoe Cove. The train would then take the tourists that came from New York City to destinations including Long Branch.
  When Fort Hancock did not want civilians near its facilities, the civilian railroad was moved to a dock in the Spermaceti Cove vicinity and later removed altogether. Later, the Sandy Hook Proving Ground took over the railroad on the Hook, and utilized it for passenger, troop train, and railway gun movements. This also allowed for interchange with Class 1 railroads at Highlands, New Jersey. The Sandy Hook Proving Ground's engine was named "General Rodman". When they left circa 1920, the railroad operation was transferred to the engineer unit at Fort Hancock.
caption: Abandoned gun platforms and traverses (protective walls, seen on the right) of the Sandy Hook Proving Ground.  Soldiers used a 20-foot gantry crane on rails to lift guns and carriages onto the platforms to be tested, or "proved". These platforms were part of the "new" Proof Battery, established in 1901 because of boundary disputes with Fort Hancock, replacing the original proof battery, which operated from 1874 to 1900.[6]
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