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.