 "Le Chemin de Fer Meusien", a narrow-gauge single track railway, ran parallel to the roadside and was able to move 1,800 tons of supplies per day.This included the bulk of the food for the army at Verdun - some 16,600 officers, 420,000 men, and 136,000 horses - and brought back many wounded from the front.Beginning in March 1916, a standard gauge railway bypass was placed under accelerated construction