The Bridgeview Bed and Breakfast in Marysville, Pennsylvania, is a unique institution. It’s a B&B designed specifically to cater to railfans and their trailing spouses. It’s located on the Susquehanna River, about 700 feet down river from the Rockville Bridge, in the very heart of Norfolk Southern’s operations in Pennsylvania. Norfolk Southern freight trains pass frequently, and once a day in each direction Amtrak’s silvery Pennsylvanian cruises past. Just behind the B&B is the Port Road Branch and Enola Yard. Across the river is the old Pennsylvania Railroad line to Buffalo.
Everything at the B&B is organized around appreciating this location. There is WiFi, but no telephones nor televisions in the rooms. There’s a sitting room-cum-library facing the Susquehanna, packed with comfortable chairs and railroad books and magazines. There’s a display in that room, with a repeater outside, showing active movements in the vicinity. All the rooms bear names (“Juniata”, “Lehigh”, “Lackawanna”) rich in railroading tradition. It’s quiet at night, if train horns don’t bother you. On that note, the Bridgeview is surely the only hotel whose policies state that “Under no circumstances should guests trespass on railroad property, including the embankment across Main Street from the B&B.”
They advertise in Trains magazine, and we finally decided to try them out in June 2023. The operation itself is decidedly low-tech. The website itself is HTTP only, no HTTPS. You make a reservation by emailing or calling Keith, the proprietor. You mail a check for a deposit and pay the rest on-site. This all worked very smoothly but I’ll cop to some trepidation. I shouldn’t have felt any; Liz and I had a blast. The environment is incredibly chill. You sit on the big deck, watch the river, watch the trains go by. You can read a bit. There are plenty of things to do around Harrisburg. We found the Antique Marketplace of Lemoyne, Cupboard Maker Books, and Home 231.
We meant to go back this year but the summer got away from us. I did finally upload all my pictures: https://galleries.goodbyeplease.com/album/Albums-2023-Harrisburg.html. Spoiler: it’s mostly trains and rivers.
