diff --git a/train.py b/train.py
index 9699cd2f..ec592567 100644
--- a/train.py
+++ b/train.py
@@ -107,11 +107,14 @@ def train():
         chkpt = torch.load(weights, map_location=device)
 
         # load model
-        # if opt.transfer:
-        chkpt['model'] = {k: v for k, v in chkpt['model'].items() if model.state_dict()[k].numel() == v.numel()}
-        model.load_state_dict(chkpt['model'], strict=False)
-        # else:
-        #    model.load_state_dict(chkpt['model'])
+        try:
+            chkpt['model'] = {k: v for k, v in chkpt['model'].items() if model.state_dict()[k].numel() == v.numel()}
+            model.load_state_dict(chkpt['model'], strict=False)
+            # model.load_state_dict(chkpt['model'])
+        except KeyError as e:
+            s = "%s is not compatible with %s. Specify --weights '' or specify a --cfg compatible with %s. " \
+                "See https://github.com/ultralytics/yolov3/issues/657" % (opt.weights, opt.cfg, opt.weights)
+            raise KeyError(s) from e
 
         # load optimizer
         if chkpt['optimizer'] is not None: