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.