I have two Whistle Controllers No's 66 and 166 and no instructions as to how to hook them up on my O gauge layout. When I press the whistle button on my ZW, the train slows almost to a stop. With a whistle controller, I've heard the train will not slow and the whistle blows. If someone could enlighten me on how to hook them up I would appreciate it very much. I run mostly pre-war and post-war engine and tenders.
George
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The 66 and 166 are probably not what you are looking for. Most classic transformers, including the ZW, actually provide a 5 volt boost when the whistle is activated to make up for the additional power needs of the whistle motor. Distinct whistle controllers do not have that feature which results in the slowing of the trains (it seems you have reverse the bits of information). Your best bet is to start troubleshooting and determining where the issue lies. It could be the transformer, the wiring/track, or the actual tender. If it were me, after the extremely obvious, I would look first to the tender and service that motor, validate that the whistle relay functions and whatnot.
The classic Lionel transformers and their whistle/horn activation controls have 3 positions:
Off - No whistle
Pickup- High DC offset just enough initiate the command
Hold - Minimal DC offset to hold the whistle command active and an additional +5V Boost to for older air whistles
The modern electronics generally only react to the Pickup and not the Hold position.
On the ZW, the Pickup position is selected by pushing the whistle lever partway, but not all the way to the stop. Turn it just shy of the Hold position (just shy of the position that provides the 5V boost that brightens the headlight and speeds the motor).
This is documented in the Lionel literature:
To not completely ignore the question you asked, here is an image of the instruction sheet that i scrounged up:
bmoran4:
Thank you very much for all the information on my controllers. It answered many of my questions and I look forward to checking out the information you supplied.
George
The big metal whistle box eats 5v right away but lets it back into the circuit as the whistle blows (the Z is 25v vs a ZW 20v 
)
It also uses a rectifier disc which could be swapped for a diode. Check for dc voltage with whistle on with a meter.
Terminals for 166, left to right are: Power in#A, in#B, then #B out, and #A out on the far right. Or you can say far left: in far right: out two center posts are common to each other. Case is isolated from Lin/Rout , shows some traces to the common, but the reading is hardly there and floats... so I think both sides are isolated and the reading is a random field from probing.
terminals on the left
Thanks Adriatic for the information.
George
My listing order was the topside up
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