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.