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.