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.