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.