The Tonawanda Island Railroad (reporting mark TIRL) operated on a 1.5-mile branch of railroad extending from the Conrail Niagara Branch in North Tonawanda, New York to Tonawanda Island.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/TIRL1.jpg/220px-TIRL1.jpg)
The railroad ceased to operate after the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) imposed an emergency order to prevent operation over a swing bridge that was found to be structurally deficient. The wood and metal bridge, known as bridge 7708810, crosses the Little River, a navigable waterway formed by the Niagara River, Ellicott Creek and Tonawanda Creek. Numerous FRA inspections also found the railroad's only piece of rolling stock, a 50-ton switcher locomotive, to be deficient.
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