THarlowton was made a division point of the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, more commonly known as the Milwaukee Road, with switching yards and an engine roundhouse and workshops. Much of that infrastructure, though abandoned by the Milwaukee Road in 1980, survives, with the area surrounding the old depot having been turned into the Milwaukee Depot Museum. On the grounds of the museum are several pieces of rolling stock, a couple of speeders, a truly unique little electric switching engine which ran off an extension cord and a collection of farm machinery where the railway yard once stood.
One of the larger pieces of maintenance-of-way equipment on display at the museum is this snowplow. Branded MILW X900055, this isn't listed in the Railway Preservation Index, nor is nor X900124, lending credence to the plaque at the unit, which states that this was actually X900124, donated to the museum by King Wilson, one time owner of the
White Sulphur Springs and Yellowstone Park Railway (WSS&YP). Though the technical specifications on the plaque are from the Milwaukee Road, this may have been used only on the WSS&YP. The plow is mounted on the front of a low sided flat car, likely used to haul ballast to increase the weight of the car. This was necessary to keep the car on the track when it hit a large, hard packed snow drift.
Also, the WSS&YP isn't one of the railways listed in the
Railway Preservation Index
