An improvement in mess enroute was experienced during this trip. A flat car was used for the rolling kitchen. Hot meals were prepared in transit. Back over the same route, through Feletin and Abusson, to the junction point at Busseau, the troop special proceeded, reaching the junction at 6:30 o'clock when mess call was sounded. Here the first section of the train waited until 8:27 for the arrival of the second section at the junction point. It was dark when the trip was resumed. Deprived by the darkness from sight-seeing privileges, all that remained for the troops to do was to stretch out on the floor and try to sleep. The nights were long and dark while traveling in a French box car. During the night the towns of Jarnages and Montlucon were passed. The train entered the Department of Allier, traveling Northeast, through Commentry, Villefranche, le Montel and Moulins. Daylight was breaking by the time Moulins was sighted. Stop was made at Paray le Monial from 7:30 to 8 a. m., when breakfast was served from the flat truck dining car. The next day, November 15th, was spent traveling through a beautiful stretch of country. The railroad ran almost parallel with the Boninoe river, a branch of the Loire. Through pasture lands and farming country, the road stretched along Palinges, Montceau, Changy, Beaune. A lay-over for lunch was made at Nuits St. Georges at 1 p. m. In the afternoon stop was made at Dijon, where the troops got a chance to detrain and partake of refreshments that a corps of French Red Cross workers served at the station. Soon after leaving Dijon darkness fell upon the troop special. The sun had not yet gone to rest. The famous tunnel between Sombernon and Blaizy-Bas had been penetrated. This tunnel, on the road to Paris, may be a note-worthy piece of engineering skill, but its designers evidently never dreamed of a troop special of thirty or forty old box cars, many with rust-corroded doors that could not be closed, whizzing through; leaving the passengers to eat up the exhaust from the smoke stacks of the locomotive. At this time the troop train was headed Northwest, toward Paris, but hopes of getting near Gay Paree were soon shattered. When Nuits sous Ravieres was reached, switch over to another branch was made and the direction then was Northeast, toward Chaumont, the A. E. F. headquarters town. Stop for night mess was made at Les Laumes, where orders were also issued for the troops to get their packs ready as the outfit would detrain in about three hours time. A heavy frost developed that night and the troops almost froze in the boxcars. After delay in getting started from Les Laumes the journey continued over a considerable longer period than three hours. Laigne and St. Colombre were passed and La Tracey, the detraining point, was reached at 3 a. m., Saturday, November 16th, 1918.