Still, I observed that the guards for the train had their overcoats.

So I do not vouch for the accuracy of his explanation.
It was getting late in the afternoon and the fifth train to pull in from the south since our advent on the spot--or possibly it was the sixth-- had just halted when, from the opposite direction, a troop-train, long and heavy, panted into sight and stopped on the far track while the men aboard it got an early supper of hot victuals.

We crossed over to have a look at the new arrivals.
It was a long train, drawn by one locomotive and shoved by another, and it included in its length a string of flat cars upon which were lashed many field pieces, and commandeered automobiles, and even some family carriages, not to mention baggage wagons and cook wagons and supply wagons.

For a wonder, the coaches in which the troops rode were new, smart coaches, seemingly just out of the builders' hands.

They were mainly first and second class coaches, varnished outside and equipped with upholstered compartments where the troopers took their luxurious ease.