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.