I'm reasonably familiar with the 80s Strand stuff: the 'getting it
functional' question is... did you get the dimmer modules, power distro,
and control distro cabinets with it? These would be large metal cabinets
full of longish modules having a very prominent toroidial choke and most
likely a big finned heatsink, all mounted horizontally on either side of a
central 'spine' power buss... kinda like big circuit breakers. In fact, if
it's the era I'm thinking of, each module might well carry it's own
breaker.
Cheerz
John