In the early 1920s, the Virginian Railway electrified a 134-mile line from Mullens, West Virginia over Clark's Gap in the Appalachian/Blue Ridge mountains to Roanoke, Virginia. The Virginian's first electric locomotives were the triple-unit EL-3A class, a series of rod-driven 1-D-1 boxcabs built by ALCO and Westinghouse starting in 1925. The EL-3A could put out a total of 7125 horsepower, surpassing contemporary steam locomotives.