[Philips210]

That was fortunate you were present when it started to burn. It could have been much worse. I remember the tripler on some of these sets often developed a hot spot, possibly due to a failing eht rectifier diode within. Maybe that's what's happened here. The black gondola focus unit could also be a fire risk too. The replacement grey version was supposed to be safe.

I repaired quite a few of these Pye Hybrid colour sets back in the early 1980s and these early 691/693 chassis versions were better than the later 697 with the toasty PCB version power/line panel. The line output transformer was generally OK and I never saw a burn-up if it failed. The red solder mask panels seemed better quality than the later green panels. The 691/693 power/LTB unit sometimes had problems with the mains transformer going up in smoke if the LT bridge rectifier went s/c. Later or replacement transformers were supplied with a built in thermal fuse. There were two versions of the metal timebase in the single standard sets. The first was entirely hand wired. The later version has two PCBs with hand wiring in other parts of the assembly. Both versions were preferable to the later 697.
I have many good memories of these sets despite their weaknesses. They were always easy and cheap to repair and I learnt a great deal in the process. The transistorised decoder based on the Mullard design was good when set up correctly. Shame about the CDA panel though.

Hope that you manage to fix your set.

Regards,
Symon