Virginian Railway Motor Barn

Virginian Railway Motor Barn. . The Mullens electric locomotive maintenance shop built in 1925 for the Virginian Railway was known as the “Motor Barn.” The main work section was a 45 foot high brick building 200 feet by 75 feet with two overhead cranes and three service tracks for the repair of the large heavy “EL” class electric locomotives built by the Westinghouse Electric Comoany. An additional shop area was 25 foot high, 40 by 300 foot long which included the offices and locker rooms. Other structures were the store house, oil house, generator house, sand house and a 75 foot tall water tank holding 75,000 gallons for the fire hydrant supply. In addition to the three tracks going into the building there were five storage tracks and an outside track with an inspection pit. At one time, working 3 shifts, 7 days a week, it had 330 employees. The three unit electric locomotives hauled the coal and freight across the mountains from Mullens to Roanoke. After the purchase of diesel locomotives in 1954-1957 the premises were used for their repair and servicing also. After the electric locomotives were discontinued in 1983 and the servicing of the diesels moved to other locations the Motor Barn was empty and idle for nearly ten years. The Clearfork Coating Inc. leased the premises for coating metals in 2000.