Yippee Kye Aye.....I found the problem! Should have been the first place I looked. It appears that I have a bung power supply. From what I can tell, there is a dual output voltage of 9 and 18 volts DC. I measured across the poles and nothing! I connected my lab supply on the red and yellow wires and all works well (connecting the other circuit, though, gave me not much at all. I am assuming that I need everything connected to get it to work). The micro switch seems to work, so it reverses nicely, the motor seems strong. For now (until I fry the circuit), if I want to slow the rotation, I just turn the volts down. It won't be ideal, but meh, it will get me going.
Cheers