It was like this for at least 3 minutes, gradually getting slightly dimmer. I just switched it on again, and now the lamp will not glow at all. My plug in meter reads 1.5 amps, 0.0 power factor.

I originally thought they were Wide-Lite cubes but it looks like they're something else. I wonder what lamps they used...almost looks like GE's short lived panel F lamp.

You are correct they had the GE Panel fluorescent for these cube fixtures.  The fixtures were manufactured by Westinghouse ( from what I have read about them).

Not that I know of.

According to this site, there are some in active service in Orange County, NY. And supposedly some made it into the hands of collectors.

Yes, I have been chatting with someone who has one. He did some measurements  for me. I want to build one, not sure which configuration yet.

Do you have any experience with discharge lamps?

Almost all of them need time to warm up. Depending on size and type, that time can range from 1 to 10 minutes.

Your picture looks like a completely cold MV lamp. The color you see is the color of the phosphor coating, plus a tiny bit of blue light from the still cold arc tube. As arc tube pressure rises, the light becomes whiter (no pink hue anymore) and much brighter.

Hi, I rewired and cleaned up a brilliant old Thorn HIPAK 400w mercury vapour fixture. When switched on, the lamp glows a very faint pink-orange colour. I'm assuming that this can be fixed by simply replacing the lamp, and is not a problem with the ballast.

I originally thought they were Wide-Lite cubes but it looks like they're something else. I wonder what lamps they used...almost looks like GE's short lived panel F lamp.

Not that I know of.

According to this site, there are some in active service in Orange County, NY. And supposedly some made it into the hands of collectors.

@ScienceGuy722 — there are plenty of Scribd downloaders out there. All of which scrape the original PDF document from Scribd's servers. You have to be completely taken in by the system of 'ask no questions and do as you're told' to not seek out (or develop your own!) free alternative to supporting the mega corporation.

https://youtu.be/y51VUsotZe4?si=7qyI61gdq35cRBgu

 I have an early 80's GE brochure which talks about Detroit's Tigers Stadium being converted to 550 MVR1500's from the original 1328 1,500 watt incandescents . I don't think I've ever seen MV used in a stadium , just incandescent or MH .