Keystone Schematics?

[Rex in Pinetop]

Friends,

My chief-of-staff bought me a Keystone "US Army Train"set for Christmas.  We're finally setteled in here in Pinetop for the summer.  The trains are running after much rehab from the winter snow etc.  So now I'm breaking out the new train to set it up for battery power RC with Airwire.  I'd like to be able to use the existing sound system but the boards are a little much without a schematic to go with them.  I called the supplied customer service number and it turns out J.LLOYD is just the importer of this made in China product.  They have no clue where to get a schematic.  Help!

Rex

[Greg Elmassian]

I would guess a schematic will not be forthcoming.

What is the difficulty though? Does it have remote control of sounds?

Greg

[cacole]

Rex,.

I have the exact same trainset -- you will never be able to find a schematic.

The Lloyd company imported several different versions of this train set and marketed them as Army or Circus sets, depending on the paint scheme.

You'll have to have a VOM and perform some tracing of the wires in the tender and the umbilical cord that plugs into the tender from the back of the loco.

I put an AirWire 900 decoder in the tender and a Lithium battery in the boxcar that comes with the set, and installed plugs and wires between the tender and boxcar, with an on/off toggle switch on the back of the tender..

The locomotive picks up track power from only the pony truck and trailing truck.  I removed the wires from both of those trucks and rewired the motor directly to two of the wires in the umbilical cord.  You can access the wiring inside the loco by removing the bottom plate.

I left the factory sound system, such as it is, in the tender and still use the battery compartment to power it.  I also removed the wiring to the smoke generator.

The loco is very light on its feet because the springs in the pony and trailing trucks are too stiff.  Cutting away some of the spring helps.

Still, the loco can barely pull the boxcar, two empty flats, and caboose that come with the set.

If I had used a heavier 12 Volt Gel-Cell battery instead of Lithium, it would probably just sit and spin its wheels.

I never photographed or documented any of my modifications because I never anticipated anyone ever asking about one of these trainsets.

[Rex in Pinetop]

Cacole and Greg,

Thanks for the replies.  From your advice I'll just wing in (without waiting for schematics).  Would putting some weight in the loco help?  I haven't tried running it yet.  Is there a sound feed from the loco to the tender for chuff speed?  I don't see anything that would indicate remote control of other sounds.

Thanks for the help,

Rex 

[cacole]

Rex in Pinetop

Would putting some weight in the loco help?  I haven't tried running it yet.  Is there a sound feed from the loco to the tender for chuff speed?

Rex 

Rex,

Weight may help if you can find a way to put some into the boiler without interfering with the motor and drive mechanism.  I never could figure out how to get the boiler off the frame.

IIRC, the sound is triggered by an IR emitter/receiver pair near the rear axle that is powered by the battery in the tender.  The sounds are a horrible sounding chuff and an occasional, purely random, toot-toot of the whistle.  I don't consider this set worth the cost of a Phoenix sound system.

My impression is that the set was meant to be ran around the Christmas tree for a week or so and then be put away and never touched again.  And I have seen versions sold under brand names other than Keystone.

The first one I bought was several years ago from an e-Bay dealer who was dumping them for $40.  I no longer have it and don't remember ever seeing a brand name on the box other than something like "Freight Hauler" or some-such, and "Made in China" all over the box.

The power pack with that first set had no brand name on it, but is exactly like the one that comes with the Army set that has "Keystone" on it, so whoever the actual manufacturer was in China apparently sold it to several different importers.

From scrounging around on the Internet, it seems that the set was actually made by a subsidiary of LGB.

[cacole]

Rex,

Some additional information:

Remove the top cap from the smoke stack to access and disable the smoke generator, which is a heating element type that is always on.

The headlight wiring is soldered to the smoke generator's wiring; i.e., only one set of wires power both the headlight and the smoke generator.

I disabled the smoke generator by cutting the wires away from one of the smoke generator's solder terminals, but leaving them connected to each other so the headlight would still work.

I then allocated two of the wires in the umbilical cord for the headlight control.  The headlight bulb is so dim that you can barely tell if it's on when running outdoors in the daytime.

 

[Rex in Pinetop]

cacole,

Thanks for the info.  It maybe that it's not worth putting a decoder board in it but since I have one on hand and my wife gave me the Army set I feel obligated to at least try.

Tonight I tripped over the Sand and Water building and stepped (rather stomped) on the only piece of unsupported track on my layout.  Bent it to heck.  Of course it's right in the intersection of all the loops so I have to raplace it if I want to run any trains.  Oh joy.

Anyway thanks for all the help with this Keystone set.  I will get to it this week.

Rex