sucking transformer        
                                    
         
                                          
 a  type  of transformer  (an  electrical 
  component) found mainly along railway   
  lines. they're usually mounted halfway  
 between  the   rails  and  the  overhead 
                powerlines.               
                                          
 as  far as  transformers  go, these  are 
 very big. instead,  not  as  many  are 
      needed. among all rail-adjacent     
  artifacts/symbols, they belong to the   
                rarer kind.               
                                          
         
                                          
 the  railpeople  are   in  general  very 
    secretive about their symbols and     
 machines,   so   also   with  the   this 
 transformer.  what we know  is  what  we 
               can observe.               
                                          
 a sucking  transformer is  surrounded by 
 two  signs,  both   around  twenty  four 
 meters to  each side of it.  tranins  do 
 not stop between  these signs during any 
 circumstances   -   if  the   choice  is 
 between halting within, or running  into 
 another train just outside, they  prefer 
                colliding.                
                                          
 water avoids  them. in light  rain,  the 
 ground closest to  a  transformer  stays 
 dry.  a  common  sight  is  a  creek  or 
   stream making a half-circle detour.    
  generally, sucking transformers are not 
 placed near to  larger bodies of  water. 
                                          
         
                                          
 their  function for the rail environment 
 is poorly understood. they  seem to pull 
    in stray fields and electricities.    
     superstition exist that they also    
 affect  spirits, gijinkas, and  even the 
        souls of living creatures.