gearing and from the high spring force that may be stored in the torque tube under braking conditions the rapid retraction of the ram may cause significant shock to the system as the ram bottoms out at the end of its permitted degree of travel which in the illustrated embodiment is determined by engagement against the annular shoulder surface of the housing 178 at the outboard end of the ram guideway preferably the ram 39 s return motion is stopped slowly to provide a u201c soft stop u201d this may be accomplished mechanically by the interpositioning of springs between the back outboard end of the ram and the shoulder surface this however adds weight and size to the actuator assembly a more preferred approach according to the present invention is to provide an electronic soft stop for each ram this is accomplished by coupling the motor to a damping circuit preferably provided in the controller in a power failure mode so that the retarded motion of the motor slows the ram down to provide a soft landing the damping circuit dissipates the energy stored in the motor inertia plus the load spring induced loads such that the actual ram speed is reduced to a safe level as the actuator ram reaches the back feed retract stop i e whatever structure is used to limit the maximum retraction of the ram the soft stop circuit includes a resistive element for energy dissipation solid state switches and power monitoring and control logic circuitry to couple the motor to the resistive element under the appropriate operating conditions more particularly when the.