After digging several feet beneath the lot surface, they struck something hard. Further clearing revealed still-intact railroad tracks, that had been hastily buried in Montgomery County's rush to redevelop today's Bethesda Row area.
Yes, Bethesda was railroad town - a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad town, on the Georgetown Branch.
While newer residents know this right of way as the Capital Crescent Trail, it originally was a freight railroad between its junction with the Metropolitan Branch near Lyttonsville in Silver Spring, and the Georgetown waterfront.
The area around Lot 31 on Bethesda Avenue was home to industrial plants and a rail switching yard. I'm not sure if this particular track was used for switching, or if it was a spur to a factory.
Unfortunately for young railroads fans like me, CSX abandoned the Georgetown Branch in the mid-80s. The Apex Building (Regal Bethesda 10) was not there at the time. Wisconsin Avenue - unbeknownest to many - actually crosses the railroad right-of-way on a bridge. I remember looking down off the sidewalk on the side of that bridge, waiting for the rare train to enter downtown Bethesda. More homeless people emerged than trains, usually.
The spot near the front of Barnes and Noble used to actually be home to a B&O rail office. To a child like me, however, the railroad was permanently associated with the Chessie System and its classic locomotive paint scheme.
There is a ton of history in Bethesda, and much is related to the Georgetown Branch.
First of all, railroad historians have recognized the Georgetown Branch as an engineering triumph when it was completed, just about a century ago.
Second, did you know that all of the heavy stone used to build the Lincoln Memorial got there by train - on the Georgetown Branch? Yes, the memorial you visit today once passed through Bethesda in pieces, on its way into the District.
One other favorite piece of Georgetown Branch history of mine: the railroad played host to the world's oldest operating steam engine - The John Bull - in 1981, if I remember correctly.
Alas, all good things come to an end. The tracks were torn up in the early 90s. The Capital Crescent Trail that has become such a valued parkland, came to exist partly by accident. Rumors of passenger and commuter trains being added to the Georgetown Branch had been heard since 1955, when the Montgomery County Council first asked the B&O for permission to do just that. The B&O's response? "Get lost!" Or something like that.
My heartbreak at the abandonment announcement was only tempered by the promise that commuter rail service would soon begin, and the county soon purchased the route from CSX.
But wealthy residents along the Georgetown Branch in Bethesda had no intention of allowing this. Working with county and state officials, they had the tracks removed at tremendous expense.
There would be no more trains in Bethesda.
But now there is the CCT, which gets tremendous use by residents and tourists alike.
Still, it's worth pointing out that had CSX kept trains running, everything we have around Bethesda Row today would still have been possible.
The fact that the tracks were not removed by the county, and they simply laid the parking lot on top, shows what a rush they were in for developer profits at the time.
Today, a new developer project at the same site [The Darcy] is disrupting cyclists and pedestrians on the CCT, and causing traffic and parking problems for everyone visiting Bethesda Row. Mostly because the county put developer profits ahead of a common-sense plan to time closures of downtown parking facilities, and build new ones concurrently.
The more things change...
But at least on Bethesda Avenue, the railroad is getting the last laugh.
