Abstract: A multiple speed gear transmission (10) of the sliding gear type includes an input shaft (12) disposed on a first axis (14), and a layshaft (16) disposed on a second axis (18) and having a forward gear (26), a reverse gear (28) and first and second drive gears (124,122) connected for joint rotation therewith. A reverse idler gear (54) is connected to the reverse gear (28), and a first sliding gear (82) is used for connecting the input shaft (12) to either the forward gear (26) or the reverse idler gear (54) and driving the layshaft (16) in either direction of rotation. An output shaft (44) disposed on the first axis (14) is selectively connected to one of the first and second drive gears (124,122) by second and third sliding gears (102,104) respectively. Five forward and four reverse speeds can be provided by the transmission (10) using four conveniently shiftable coupling elements (82,98,100,128).