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.