Hey all,

While doing a bit of research I came upon some papers mentioning some European steam locomotives using Gooch valve gear, which is a type I've never heard of. Would anyone be able to explain it's workings to me, or point me in the direction of a source that would?

And while we're at it, could anyone enlighten me on the subject of poppet valves, (i.e. how they work and the advantages/disadvantages of them)? I know the mighty Pennsy, among others, experimented with these.

Thanks as always!

The following site has the best "working" explanations of all the various valve types. The working diagrams can be down loaded in a self extracting zip file and gives you quite a bit of information through the various steam diagrams how the valve works. The two of the poppet valves are also diagramed.

http://www.tcsn.net/charlied/

Ed