An exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system (11), especially for a diesel engine, having a valve (25), including a valve stem (29,31) and an actuator operable to move the valve (25) between the open (FIG. 1) and closed positions. The actuator includes an electric motor (47) which provides a low torque, high speed rotary output (51) to an input gear (53) of a reduction gear train (55). The output of the gear train is a relatively high torque, low speed rotation of an output gear (79), which is connected by a linkage (83,85) to the input stem (31) of the valve. The gear train (55) includes a torque limiting clutch (67,69) to protect the teeth of the gears, and a coupling arrangement (91) joins the valve stems (29,31) to permit mis-alignment therebetween.