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