Thanks Martin. Don't know about Denmark but discrete transistors are extremely limited and hard get in Australia. No luck with your suggestion either. And as for the well-being of those transistors - there is no doubt about it. What happened is the collector metal tag at the top of one of them was in contact with the wire loom and burnt through

Tone arm motor drive transistors (TR1 through TR4) complimentary pair PU51 and PU01 are no longer available. I've even tried equivalents 2SB1201, 2SD1801 to no avail. Do anyone know a source?