CTC-2B Ballast

[miniman82]

I have a spare 2B chassis, but it was missing the ballast. I was able to locate one, but the resistive elements inside have gone open circuit so now I have to make a decision.

Do I:

A. Try to find some resistive wire and make original style elements for the inside and 'restuff' it so to speak?

Or

B. Tack some high wattage sand resistors inside the low voltage cage, and leave the empty ballast tube for visual purposes only?

If I go route A it could be tough trying to cram enough wire inside, the original elements were very fine wire wrapped around a (asbestos? Fiberglass? Silica?) core, sheathed in more fire retardant material. Probably be really hard to duplicate anyway. If I go route B that obviously works for this chassis here, but the ballast is electrically pointless then and can't be swapped into another chassis for troubleshooting.

It may even be possible to cram sand resistors inside the old ballast can, but I don't know what wattage to use since none of the schematics I have tell me how much current the ballast has to deal with.

What do you guys think?