The Lebanon Branch was vital to the economic development of East Nashville, Mt Juliet, and Lebanon for many years. It also was a vital link for the Nashville & Knoxville RR which ran from Lebanon through Monterey. In 1901 Jere Baxter started the Tennessee Central Railway to purchase the Nashville & Knoxville, build out the line to interchange with the Southern RR at Hariman, and build out a line from Lebanon to Nashville (in several places the two lines ran parallel). When the TCRW was completed in 1902 it started to pull business off the NCStL's Lebanon branch. And at 12:45pm on July 13, 1935 the last NC&StL train departed Lebanon.
The section that the cache is hidden on was used until the late 1990's as a service spur for the industry around Elm Hill Pike and Massman Dr. The bridge across the street stored a couple of retired passenger cars unlit 2007 0r 2008. Look around, maybe you'll find some other abandoned relics of a once loved rail line.