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.