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.