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.