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.