Strange Phenom--

Hi All,
I ran into a strange phenom on the TCC-1 that I am working on, and wondered if any of you guys smarter then me, can "'splain it to me" ?
It involves the 3300-5W (sand) "fuse resistor" Seeburg used in various positions.
I measured it with my Fluke auto-range digital meter and it read 29K--for a second--then started climbing, as a cap would do. I watched it till it got to about 3350--then the meter read "open". So, I lifted one lead and tried it again--read "open". So I then grabbed my HP digital meter (also auto range). and once again, this one read 30k, and started "charging" up to 35 K, at which point it read "open". So then I checked it with a analog meter--reads open.
This brings up a couple of questions---
1. Why did Seeburg call this a "fuse resistor"--and can a "regular sand block" resistor be safely used as a replacement ?
2. What caused the two meters to act this way--if "open", how did I get "readings" ?
TIA ! Ron Rich

Ron, not really knowing the internals of these resistors other than wirewounds use nichrome wire, I'd guess that when the resistor opened from a fault, the immediate break in the wire caused a spark or arc-over - and this created carbonizing right there - thus allowing a high-sensitive meter to read "something".

Matt,
Thanks--that makes sense-- Ron Rich