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.