What Is This Transistor Circuit For?

[pwdrive]

Could it be something to do with reducing the take up/supply motors power when selecting the ff or rew function after a tape loop has been created due to unequal braking times when in ff or rew due to different spool weights? ie: to reduce the effect of tape "snapping" due to a loop, the only other way would be to select play first or manually rotate the reel to take up the loop.

Lawrence.