there are two screws on the reflector in the middle. If they're for the ballast, judging on the spacing of them then there's a long john ballast inside.

Odd to see a ballast mounted on the reflector. The deep and wide reflector on this looks like T17s would fit nicely too.

yeah i don't know why the ballast would be on the reflector, though it was done with basically all 1940s lights. The reflector in this is longer than the fixture. The sockets are at the end of the fixture and you can see the reflector extends a little on either end.

Even if these aren't yours yet I suppose you could bring some starters and/or lamps over to get at least some of them partially working in the meantime while they're still lighting the basement...but it looks like the light in the pic is coming from an incandescent pullchain light or something so it might not be necessary.
I'm jelous!

The fixture in the foreground has power since the ballast hums pretty loudly (sounds like a slimline that has been used 14 hours a day for the past 40 years lol. you know how buzzy those lights can be lol. I sure hope the ballast works. I'm going to see if i can put in a pair of lamps and new starters in this fixture so i can test its functionality. I'll use those lamps and starters in the one in the background too to test for power going to it or bad ballast of something. The yellow light is from a flashlight i was holding. my cousin's favorite color is yellow so he has a yellow LED flashlight that is one powerful thing! gets hot too! There is a pull chain right next to the front fixture though. that white romex in the top of the pic goes to it.

UPDATE: i gave my aunt the two sylvania CWP lamps and two plastic FS-4 Leviton starters for the fixture in the foreground so she had a little bit of light down there to work with since the pullchain light's light doesn't light the ground in the room with the fluorescents, as there's still a wall about 4 1/2 ft tall so the ligth gets blocked. The fluorescent light will outshine the 40W incandescent anyways. since the lamps and starters i gave her all work and i know there is power to the fixture, that gets rid of all the variables. Plus i can swap the lamps among the other fixtures to test them as well. That gets rid of some of the suspense lol.

And eventually the lamps and starters (And fixture) will be yours! Another nice thing about preheaters is they work with only one lamp too so you could spread the two lamps around, as well as any other starters/lamps that check out okay.
Or just buy some new lamps/starters (You'll eventually need them anyway; can't have too many of those around) and relamp them in their current place so they work in the interim and them you'll get all that stuff back!

Yep once these get removed i get the starters and lamps i gave them back (though i don't really want those stupid mercury starved CWP Sylvania lamps lol) The next tim i go there i'll bring a couple more lamps and starters so i can get the other light working until they're removed. Life you said, i'll be getting eerything back. If i give them more lamps and starters, i'll be bringing them myself since i don't want them getting rid of the old lamps or starters. For all we know, they might still work! Vintage fluorescents can act a little fussy when not taken care of properly.

I can always use more F40T12 lamps. I have about 40 F20T12s so i'm good in that department lol. I have maybe a dozen F40s. I MIGHT be going to the restore on Friday (9/6 so i'll see what lamps they have and see if i can get some more fixtures to get stored in the shed.

my aunt told me she'd get back to me on whether or not this fixture works with the new lamps and starters.

Do your Sylvanias finally warm up to full brightness? Mine do, and once fully warmed up they're BRIGHT! They do this, regardless of the ballast or ambient temperature (below freezing, 80 degree summer days, etc.) The ones in my Sears shoplight aren't too bad with that full-power GE Bonusline ballast behind them, and seem to be slowly getting over the starvation issue...I was surprised to see that after almost three months of non-use while I was out of town (June stnd-August 28th). They have one spot that warms up last on the end opposite the etch...tonight when I fire it up I will take a pic. However the one (Other lamp in that pair broke) in one of the "Old School" lights took FOREVER after that long (And during those three months I was home (albeit briefly) 3-4 times and turned them on). It's also on a full-power ballast, a late 70s Universal Therm-O-Matic like the ones you have.
I have another Sylvania Cool White Plus lamp, and even with a broken electrode it's full brightness right away! (It still lights on a shunted Universal ballast that's half-dead and only lights one lamp.
What will you be bringing for the other light? SP41 Ecolux lamps? If you get those two lights working, I'd leave them with modern lamps and take the old Lifelines, just in case something happens...

yeah they warm up. the ends are lit and the center is dark and slowly the bright ends "grow" until they meet and the flickering dies down. The five CWP Sylvania lamps i used to fix the preheaters in my cousin's late-grandpa's garage did that when they were installed but after that never again.

They take provably 2-5 minutes to "warm up". I heard heating the lamps up can help free some of the mercury that might be absorbed by the phosphors. Maybe that's what happened.

If this fixture works, I'll bring a couple daylight altos i have an a GE SP41s and a few random starters i have that work. I only need to bring three more lamps and three or four starters. If this fixture doesn't work then i'll use the CWP lamps and leviton starters in another fixture. I know preheaters can operate with one lamp but i'd rather have full fixtures working. If there's still half a case of CWP Altos at he restore, then that's what i'll use to fix their fixtures. When i bring new lamps i'll exchange them for the old ones. They told me they'd save them but if if my uncle doesn't think they work then he might think he's doing me a favor by throwing them out. Plus if they fall down or get damaged then that's no good. they're safe and sound at my house.

I find the T8s have to warm up but the F40T12s don't really have to since they're full mercury. Unless it's really cold.

my pair of Sylvania CWP lamps need to warm up.

The F32 Sylvanias need warmup time but aren't too awful actually. I saw some at school that need to warmup and are dim in the middle even with tube guards, but the ones on my boat are slightly dimmer at first but not too awful! (And they're 6500K, my favorite fluorescent color!)

Funny how I've had the opposite results.

I've noticed the lamps in ym school need time to warm up on a cold start. they're either GE EcoLuxes or Sylvania Octrons.

The 3500K Ecolux lamps in my kitchen start dimmer but warm up to full brightness quickly, and only if they're cold and it's kinda chilly in there.

hmm interesting. all my ecolux lamps start right up in any weather. the SP41 lamps in my 1973 shop light glow blue at the electrodes and striate for about 3 seconds before starting but when they start they're at full brightness.

I've noticed that Sylvania Ecologic needs to warm up even in warmish weather, GE is fine until it gets cold, same with Alto. Alto II is a bit like Ecologic.

yeah my alto IIs are slightly dim when they start up. not really that dim though.

They tend to flicker too if on a magnetic ballast.

Like striate or that almost-like-rectifying-but-faster flicker my Sylvania CWP lamps do in the Sears light?