Eleco 2X8w bulkhead lit

A very unusual find on eBay is this Eleco bulkhead, of which up to now I didn't even realise the company even made. Its of a very pleasing design, featuring rounded ends rather than the usual squared ends. Its brand new old stock, and this can be confirmed by the lack of opened cable entries or screw fixing positions. The design of the base casting is smart too, as screw points exist which would allow you to mount it on an angle if the need arises. The bulkheads old enough to have a tar gasket instead of rubber or felt, which is somehow hanging on through some sort of miracle. Its nice to see a fluorescent bulkhead painted silver, rather than the normal black or grey or white, it suits the light brilliantly.

Inside, sadly only one of the two original starters are still there, the other having been replaced for a later S10 starter, maybe to demonstrate a working light? Who knows but its very frustrating, as I've never seen a metal can starter with a hole in its end. Flipping the tray over revealed two very nice and very heavy open wound transformers, interestingly labelled to run 6w tubes as opposed to 8w. the massive hunts capacitor has a age of 9/59, meaning this hefty old lights coming up to its 63'rd year of being a completely unused fitting. Applying power, it struck up almost immediately, surprisingly both ballasts are relatively silent, open wound being a lot louder than the later potted and laminated ballasts of today.

Whilst everything's screaming at me to install it in my shed to show it, I'm keeping it within the collection as a showpiece rather than installing it, as its such an unusual bulkhead, its too nice to drill imo.