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.