Large Scale Central

Help! Our Keystone Locomotive Friend Needs Gears

Problem Solving
#1

Hey there,

We are on a search for a gear setup or a parts engine with good gears for our new addition. This Keystone locomotive is in need of the main gear that comes off the worm gear and 1 axle gear which is still good but slightly worn and slips just a little. We have had Keystone locomotives in our program for years and years with no problems as long as you don’t pull too many cars which I’m assuming this engine may have done. If anybody’s got a spare drive or locomotive with a good drive, please let us know or if anyone has the correct gears that would be great too. The engine is in new shape and we get a lot of requests from kids to run these locomotives the most, so we’d really like to get it going. It may take a while but I think eventually we’ll find something to fix it with. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Ken

#2

Just push it with the LGB powered tender!!

#3

Ken, that’s a sorta copy of a Bachmann loco, sold under various names like Buddy L, Keystone, etc. If you find something like it with the 2-6-2 wheel arrangement, it’s the same loco, as there aren’t any other 2-6-2 ‘prairies’ around.

The drives in bachmann locos go the same way as yours (though some crack their final drive gear. Check out this thread:

http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/29767/a-different-spectrum-4-4-0-gear-problem

and the photo of the replacement Delrin gear that Jiro made for me (new gear on the left):

If the gear is the right size but the secondary gear is not in the right place, you could always saw it off.

I would keep asking for a replacement or parts loco, but if you have no luck, I would take the gear out and measure it against this part.

P.S. There’s a Keystone circus 2-6-2 just like yours on eBay right now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Keystone-2-6-2-Circus-Steam-Engine-G-Scale-Used/202858698738?hash=item2f3b5217f2:g:-w8AAOSwoBFd–cb

It’s easy to swap the wheel trim and swap chassis.

#4

That’s definitely an idea Dan, if I am unable to find a gear.

Pete, Appreciate the info. Do you have a number for Jiro? Second question here but do you remember the cost of having that gear made?

I’ll check out the other link and the loco. on Ebay.

I just wonder if the gear on this engine is the same as Bachmann’s because I have a new Bachmann gear somewhere but I dont think they look the same. I could be wrong though. I’ll search for it and compare the two.

Really appreciate your help.

Let you know.

Ken

#5

Last time I heard about $25 a gear, but maybe you have to buy 2 or 3 to make it worth his while.

I’m thinking $40 for a spare parts engine would make a lot of sense if the loco is as popular as you indicate.

Greg

#6

Greg Elmassian said:

Last time I heard about $25 a gear, but maybe you have to buy 2 or 3 to make it worth his while.

I think he likes that there might be a bigger market than just a one-off. He made 6 and I got 3, so he still has 3 I think, for $25 each incl shipping.

I’m thinking $40 for a spare parts engine would make a lot of sense if the loco is as popular as you indicate.

Greg

Agreed. However, the $40 is the starting bid and the bid closes in 3 days. But they are quite easy to find.

Ken, Jiro will need your gear to make a copy, which means you will have to take it out. Can you measure the diameter accurately without removing it? That might tell us if it is worth removing. I’ll find his email for you tomorrow.

#7

If you don’t send it it, a count of the teeth is also important.

Greg

#8

You know what’s interesting Greg is that what you and I would consider less interesting, cheaper locomotives, the public absolutely adores. I’m a little confused however about what you mean by a $25 gear. Are you referring to a gear that I could purchase from Bachmann or is this an item that’s is made by Jiro because I definitely want one if it’s going to work. It kind of sounds like by what Pete was saying, that the gear is available through some sort of auction? Forgive me for acting a little dumb here but I’m still a little bit confused.

Pete, by the way, I can remove the gear out of the drive without an issue but I didn’t want to tear the whole locomotive apart unless I knew I could get the gear. I do see your point about needing information about the diameter and how many teeth it has but as you can see in the photo, there aren’t too many teeth left to count, so I don’t know if we’ll get that accurate count.

I’ll contact Jiro immediately when I get the information from you and see if they can help me. The circus locomotive seems to be a bit expensive and I really hate to take a perfectly good locomotive apart when it is operational and running.

If you find contact information I’ll go ahead and contact them though. Thank you for your dedicated search for that info.

#9

Ken Mathews/Imagination Station Kids On Track said:

You know what’s interesting Greg is that what you and I would consider less interesting, cheaper locomotives, the public absolutely adores. I’m a little confused however about what you mean by a $25 gear. Are you referring to a gear that I could purchase from Bachmann or is this an item that’s is made by Jiro because I definitely want one if it’s going to work. It kind of sounds like by what Pete was saying, that the gear is available through some sort of auction? Forgive me for acting a little dumb here but I’m still a little bit confused.

Ken, Greg’s $25 gear is the one made by Jiro in Delrin for my 4-4-0 and 2-6-0. We don’t know if it will fit.

Alternatively there’s an auction on eBay at the moment for a Keystone Circus loco that’s starting at $40 and closing in 1 day. Nothing wrong with a spare locomotive which has decent wheels, etc. If you could get it for $45-$50 I would buy that and swap the gears. Someone has bid on it, and that person may have put a maximum bid of ??$$. If you want the spare complete loco, make a bid of $45 and see if the system immediately tells you you have been outbid. If so, decide how much you want to spend and keep bidding until you reach the (your) max. (Or until eBay says your the top bidder.)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Keystone-2-6-2-Circus-Steam-Engine-G-Scale-Used/202858698738?hash=item2f3b5217f2:g:-w8AAOSwoBFd--cb

Pete, by the way, I can remove the gear out of the drive without an issue but I didn’t want to tear the whole locomotive apart unless I knew I could get the gear. I do see your point about needing information about the diameter and how many teeth it has but as you can see in the photo, there aren’t too many teeth left to count, so I don’t know if we’ll get that accurate count.

It’s not too tricky to count even in that state. But the diameter is the first step - even if it is only approximate, it will help tell Jiro if the gear will work or if he needs to see your original.

I’ll contact Jiro immediately when I get the information from you and see if they can help me. The circus locomotive seems to be a bit expensive and I really hate to take a perfectly good locomotive apart when it is operational and running.

If you keep liking inexpensive locos like this one, you’l lbe doing a lot of it. They aren’t made to last. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

If you find contact information I’ll go ahead and contact them though. Thank you for your dedicated search for that info.

PM (message) sent as soon as I post this.

#10

Pete,

Received your information and the contacted Jerry via email and I’m waiting for a response. I’m watching the bidding on the circus locomotive. As mentioned before, I have the most rigorous maintenance schedule on all our engines, cars and other equipment, whether they be cheaper or more expensive. We have Bachmann locomotives from 25 years ago that are still running for our kids program with no problems whatsoever, due to that maintenance and especially not pulling too much weight. When the kids and public like a certain locomotive, I try to do my best to make sure it’s out there for them to run but we don’t put more than two to three cars behind these engines and we run them with momentum as well. That with the maintenance seems to make them last practically forever. Even though every locomotive eventually will break down, as with any vehicle, we seem to hold it off for a lot more years than most which shows that with complete and proper maintenance, and careful operation practices, even the cheaper locomotives will last a really long time. We do have a lot of LGB, USA, Aristocraft, Accucraft and Piko locomotives as well in this program which get the same vigorous maintenance. I learned with this kind of regular maintenance and good operational practices, any locomotive can provide a significant amount of years of service, depending on how it is treated, as long as the drive has a somewhat reasonable and descent design. I learned a lot of this from Barry Olsen.

Thank you very, very much for the emails and information! It’s very helpful!

Ken

#11

So the auction closed at $41 with 2 bids, so did you win it Ken?

#12

Unfortunately I did not. I missed out because I had a software crash on my phone.I took it back to the store and they opted to replace it?? I hope there will be more of these locomotives popping up on Ebay in the future…

#13

Double post again

#14

Greg,

Jerry’s going to try to duplicate a gear for us, if it will work. I’ll try to show some pictures of the final product when he’s done. It goes out to him Monday. Thanks for your help along with everyone else! Ken