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.