One thing that will start happening as you get older is you might go back somewhere and have double nostalgia... remembering the original memories but then also remembering the experience of seeing it as an altered place as an adult. You get these complicated shadings of memories.
Gaithersburg is also a nostalgic area for me. Thr construction company my Dad worked for build that massive apartment complex right next to the station. He'd often take me with him. I never rode any MARC trains, but we always did a bunch of railfaning between Point of Rocks and Gaithersburg. I also remember my Dad taking me to the top of one of the big construction cranes they had.
Nice video! Thanks for giving us a little tour of DC's Maryland suburbs! I feel there has to be a fair number of transit enthusiasts (myself included) who can trace their interests back to a childhood fascination with trains, so thanks for sharing your own experience!
My Dad worked for Southern Railway. With my Mom being from Atlanta we would take the Southern Crescent from Alexandria to Atlanta quite a bit, since we got to ride free. I am still a train nut to this day!
When you showed the Gaithersburg Station a massive rush of Nostalgia came towards me. I only live there for the first year of my life, but my family and I would always come back there to see friends and go to the Fair. That’s the best thing about transit, especially when it improves. You get to have easier access to visit your childhood places. Glad you got to enjoy your trip!
The townhomes I spent my teens in are actually served by SEPTA's 92 (with the 124 branching about a mile before). Its not really safe to cross the street to go toward King of Prussia-which is probably the main drawback with the route between the Dale Secondary (Cross County Corridor) and the Valley Forge Rd interchange-the corporate stuff from the Valley Forge interchange into King of Prussia is fine actually. There's a mix of residential (besides where I live, there's a new apartment complex which is next to a one-way road, at best add a bike/pedestrian lane because you want to send your kid to Asian grocery stores (including one in part of a former furniture store), golf store, party store, Antique Store in Former Chuck E. Cheese, Chinse Food made by Mexicans (bad decision), Sports-themed barber shop, brew pup that used to be a Charlie Brown's, oh and MacDonald's (there's a Hibachi Restaurant and Barnes and Noble a bit further down, but it gets a bit steep even if cutting through the lot by the MacDonald's)-also now I want a bike-accessible bridge over 202 to connect those residences to Wilson Farm Park without having to drive around and increase the chance for kids in different neighborhoods adjacent to the park can interact (I guess in return a small portion of Chesterbrook residences don't need to drive if they don't want to go out-but still probably won't)
Just discovered your videos this evening, after seeing an article about the Loudoun Gateway station in today’s WaPo. Down a rabbit hole, and ended up with your videos. I’ve watched several. You are charming, and your videos so informative. I’ve been a subway fan ever since traveling in Europe in the 1970s. Keep up your nice work!
thanks for the kind words Laura, LG really is fascinatingly bad. I hope they figure something out to make the station useful. Like make it overflow parking for IAD.
@@sammymarrco47 Thanks! And I meant to also say: the story of your mom and dad giving you a ten minute ride on the train was lovely. I’m struck also by the similarity between the design of these new DC Metro stations and the newer stations on the Vienna subway system - the system I am most familiar with, and saw come together over 30 years of travel back and forth to Vienna. There are some great videos online about that system as well. And I’ll keep watching yours!
The one thing that NEVER left my memories: the DC Area transit system. I've constantly told folks that are not from the DC Area like I was that there is NO way in the world that you cannot get anywhere in the DC Area without using the transit system, whether it be by rail, bus, or simply walking. I do remember growing up with the Metro/Ride-On route expansions during the 1990s and 2000s, and it is just with complete awe at how connected people really are from the suburbs to DC proper. I've often joked that you simply had to turn in any direction and see a bus stop within 50 feet of where you stood because you would be standing in an area that's so connected that you'd just sneeze and a bus shows up. Thank you for this trip down Memory Lane! :)
Nice vid. I go to Gtown several times a year to visit family. Sadly MARC only offers inbound in the morning rush and outbound in the afternoon M-F only. Ate at the Chick Fila several times.
depends where you are in both states, Alexandreia is prob the best in NOVA and southern MoCo in MD, but PGC is not great apart from near the Metro, same with Loudoun and PWC sans Metro).
@@sammymarrco47 It's alright, not as good as it used to be but it definitely could be worse. I live in the more rural southern part but I frequently visit the more urban area around the tracks, and I used to live near the tracks too
I'm glad you got to revisit scenes from when you were a kid (takes a shot for each time you said it 😄 ). Ride-On for all its flaws is probably the best of the county bus transit systems, and seems to be trying to improve: in 2025, they are revamping the entire network -- they're adding more Ride-On Extra buses (similar to the 101 but all-day service) as well as the now-existing FLASH "BRT" (ish) on Rt.29; there's an aim to get routes to 30 minutes or less (they went to 40 minutes because of the pandemic). Now, if you want exurbs, take the 76 to Poolesville, which is usually a bus an hour and is about 40-50 minutes from Shady Grove (that 76 bus has a shorter service that is every 30 minutes).
thanks for the kind words, hopefully not too many shots! I'd say Poolesville is pretty much rural with farmland on all sides, it's crazy they run a bus there! Imma have to take it sometime!
ride on busses rattle like no other! i loved hearing how trains in childhood shaped your life, i was lucky enough to grow up in forest glen and took the metro to daycare in the city where my parents worked. i remember turning five and being so excited to get my own smartrip.
One thing that will start happening as you get older is you might go back somewhere and have double nostalgia... remembering the original memories but then also remembering the experience of seeing it as an altered place as an adult. You get these complicated shadings of memories.
its trippy, it feels so much smaller that im an adult!
Gaithersburg is also a nostalgic area for me. Thr construction company my Dad worked for build that massive apartment complex right next to the station. He'd often take me with him. I never rode any MARC trains, but we always did a bunch of railfaning between Point of Rocks and Gaithersburg. I also remember my Dad taking me to the top of one of the big construction cranes they had.
woah that mustve been such a cool view!
Nice video! Thanks for giving us a little tour of DC's Maryland suburbs! I feel there has to be a fair number of transit enthusiasts (myself included) who can trace their interests back to a childhood fascination with trains, so thanks for sharing your own experience!
it all comes back to the *trains*
My Dad worked for Southern Railway. With my Mom being from Atlanta we would take the Southern Crescent from Alexandria to Atlanta quite a bit, since we got to ride free.
I am still a train nut to this day!
awesome! I'm sure some core memories made.
I’m coming into the area from Harrisburg in the 20th and am going to make a very similar trip from Germantown into DC all on transit.
have fun! I have a vid on Harrisburg coming in the next month!
@ great! Will you be riding Capital Area Transit or maybe some Rabbit Transit? Perhaps commuter rail to Lancaster
I visited in may and I did ride CAT + rabbit from Gettysburg
@@sammymarrco47 CAT would really pack a punch if it didn’t get bought out by rabbit transit. They stripped the system to bare bones
When you showed the Gaithersburg Station a massive rush of Nostalgia came towards me. I only live there for the first year of my life, but my family and I would always come back there to see friends and go to the Fair.
That’s the best thing about transit, especially when it improves. You get to have easier access to visit your childhood places.
Glad you got to enjoy your trip!
so true, it was nostalgic for me too, I had my 7th birthday party there!
That red marc train used to do passenger services but now its either shunting or rescuing trains now
yup its all the newer ones now!
LOVE the nostalgia here and the videos from your childhood. What great memories!
thanks Greg!
The townhomes I spent my teens in are actually served by SEPTA's 92 (with the 124 branching about a mile before). Its not really safe to cross the street to go toward King of Prussia-which is probably the main drawback with the route between the Dale Secondary (Cross County Corridor) and the Valley Forge Rd interchange-the corporate stuff from the Valley Forge interchange into King of Prussia is fine actually. There's a mix of residential (besides where I live, there's a new apartment complex which is next to a one-way road, at best add a bike/pedestrian lane because you want to send your kid to Asian grocery stores (including one in part of a former furniture store), golf store, party store, Antique Store in Former Chuck E. Cheese, Chinse Food made by Mexicans (bad decision), Sports-themed barber shop, brew pup that used to be a Charlie Brown's, oh and MacDonald's (there's a Hibachi Restaurant and Barnes and Noble a bit further down, but it gets a bit steep even if cutting through the lot by the MacDonald's)-also now I want a bike-accessible bridge over 202 to connect those residences to Wilson Farm Park without having to drive around and increase the chance for kids in different neighborhoods adjacent to the park can interact (I guess in return a small portion of Chesterbrook residences don't need to drive if they don't want to go out-but still probably won't)
I think germantown being exurbs is a bit generous tbh. try somewhere like la plata or lexintgon park
fair
Just discovered your videos this evening, after seeing an article about the Loudoun Gateway station in today’s WaPo. Down a rabbit hole, and ended up with your videos. I’ve watched several. You are charming, and your videos so informative. I’ve been a subway fan ever since traveling in Europe in the 1970s. Keep up your nice work!
thanks for the kind words Laura, LG really is fascinatingly bad. I hope they figure something out to make the station useful. Like make it overflow parking for IAD.
@@sammymarrco47 Thanks! And I meant to also say: the story of your mom and dad giving you a ten minute ride on the train was lovely. I’m struck also by the similarity between the design of these new DC Metro stations and the newer stations on the Vienna subway system - the system I am most familiar with, and saw come together over 30 years of travel back and forth to Vienna. There are some great videos online about that system as well. And I’ll keep watching yours!
Love the old MARC footage
I have more if you want it!
Far easier to get into the further out areas of Maryland coming from DC than trying to get into Virginia from DC on public transit
uhhh, four metro lines, two commuter rail lines and 5 bus systems would disagree with you.
The one thing that NEVER left my memories: the DC Area transit system. I've constantly told folks that are not from the DC Area like I was that there is NO way in the world that you cannot get anywhere in the DC Area without using the transit system, whether it be by rail, bus, or simply walking. I do remember growing up with the Metro/Ride-On route expansions during the 1990s and 2000s, and it is just with complete awe at how connected people really are from the suburbs to DC proper. I've often joked that you simply had to turn in any direction and see a bus stop within 50 feet of where you stood because you would be standing in an area that's so connected that you'd just sneeze and a bus shows up. Thank you for this trip down Memory Lane! :)
youre welcome!
Nice vid. I go to Gtown several times a year to visit family. Sadly MARC only offers inbound in the morning rush and outbound in the afternoon M-F only. Ate at the Chick Fila several times.
yeah they wanna add one reverse peak service but it hasn't been implemented yet!
It’s useless
Nice! That double sidewalk looking walkway looks like a utility/ fire department access road to me.
yeah that makes sense, the entrance is def wide enough
Honestly, Maryland suburban public transportation is surprisingly not horrible! At least, it's a lot better than Virginia.
depends where you are in both states, Alexandreia is prob the best in NOVA and southern MoCo in MD, but PGC is not great apart from near the Metro, same with Loudoun and PWC sans Metro).
Damn you right
@@sammymarrco47do not attempt southern Maryland lol
This is awesome, I live in Germantown and have my whole life
how is it, my parents say it's not so great these days even though they haven't lived there for over a decade.
@@sammymarrco47 It's alright, not as good as it used to be but it definitely could be worse. I live in the more rural southern part but I frequently visit the more urban area around the tracks, and I used to live near the tracks too
I'm glad you got to revisit scenes from when you were a kid (takes a shot for each time you said it 😄 ). Ride-On for all its flaws is probably the best of the county bus transit systems, and seems to be trying to improve: in 2025, they are revamping the entire network -- they're adding more Ride-On Extra buses (similar to the 101 but all-day service) as well as the now-existing FLASH "BRT" (ish) on Rt.29; there's an aim to get routes to 30 minutes or less (they went to 40 minutes because of the pandemic).
Now, if you want exurbs, take the 76 to Poolesville, which is usually a bus an hour and is about 40-50 minutes from Shady Grove (that 76 bus has a shorter service that is every 30 minutes).
thanks for the kind words, hopefully not too many shots! I'd say Poolesville is pretty much rural with farmland on all sides, it's crazy they run a bus there! Imma have to take it sometime!
ride on busses rattle like no other! i loved hearing how trains in childhood shaped your life, i was lucky enough to grow up in forest glen and took the metro to daycare in the city where my parents worked. i remember turning five and being so excited to get my own smartrip.
thats cool! growing up near metro is not something I had but maybe my kids will!
Omg I had a very similar early childhood, I lived in a townhouse within walking distance of Shady Grove off Redland Road
I went to Gaithersburg as a kid! Especially the labor day parades
MoCo townhouse gang 🤟
The crazy thing is that I can walk to your old house!
how long would it be!
@@sammymarrco47 Probably 5-10 Minutes.
Interesting choice of music….
A synth version of Mary’s Little Boy Child?
yeah it’s a little weird haha, but it’s copyright free so 🤷♂️
@@sammymarrco47 I guess, I thought it was a little early for Christmas music lol.
It would be hilarious if they just up and extend the WMATA metro and call MARC a lost cause
nah, MARC can be good if MD buys the rights to the tracks like VA is doing.
I live here
in MD?
Free massage on the bus
yes
well tampa has more rattle buses
maybe, never've been!
@@sammymarrco47 its true
Here's a hint - if it existed when you were a kid, it's not the exurbs.
everyone's definition is different the fact that you can go 10 minutes and be in rural areas like Boyds mean its exurbs to me.