Thorn Escort Fluorescent

This small bulkhead was one of several fittings which made up Thorn's 'Escort' family - the others being the 'Escort Tungsten', 'Escort Wellglass' and 'Escort Patio'. Whilst it is no longer made, the design remains popular and has been adopted by other manufacturers over time.

The bulkhead comes with an opal front cover which is secured by two small tri-head bolts. For some reason, the front of the cover has been covered in varnish - but wasn't cleaned beforehand and so the dirt marks are now trapped beneath the coating.

The small fragment of the worn-out identification label between the two tubes displays part of the Thorn logo as used in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The gear tray hinges to one side, revealing two ballasts and two starters - a capacitor is not included but could be as an optional extra. The ballasts appear to be Thorn-made (certainly the starter holders are).

With two new tubes and starters, the fitting was switched on and all was well.

The cover was then re-fitted - causing the output to drop somewhat!

I also tried a couple of red Thorn 8 Watt lamps in the Escort - the camera really struggled to replicate anything similar to the true colour of these unusual tubes!

With the cover back in place.

A replacement cover was fitted to the Escort on Thursday, 23rd July 2009. The photograph below shows it in place, along with the old cover below.

There doesn't appear to be much difference in the appearance of both covers here; in reality, the older cover is quite yellowed internally.

Lamp warm-up video:

Crompton Robust | Philips FGC 111

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