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.