RS-11 Mopac

I recently bought a neat RS-11 Missouri Pacific.   I don't have TMCC installed yet but was told that it could run in conventional mode.    When I got it and tried it out it would only run at one speed on my conventional set but I could run it faster and vary the speed if I ran it on my Lionel Club set which does have TMCC installed.   I checked the manual, always a great start, and found instructions to:
1) Turn up full power when engine is in Neutral.   I did
2) Hold the whistle/Horn button down within 1 sec of turning up the power.  I tried
3) reduce speed slowly(how slow is slowly?) to 1/4 total speed I'm guessing 8 -18 volts on an old LW125w is about 10-11 volts?
4 then cycle to forward or reverse.  ????
I've tried this and nothing seemed to work. 
I've had a new Odyssey chip installed and it seemed to work for awhile and now its doing the same thing.
The old LW is flaky I admit.    I have been able to get the BELL to work when pushing a combination of Directional and Whistle buttons on the LW.   So,,,,, is conventional mode a wil'O'Wisp.   Is the LW just not the right transformer and if not what is.  Or, is there s secret step to restoring or turning off Odyssey?   should I sacrifice a chicken?
Any help would be appreciated.

Roland