This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
MERG West of Scotland Area Group
To send us an email, use the MERG Area Group contact form
For MERG members, you might also like to look at our area group forum.
Who are the leaders of the group?
M1853 Davy Dick Group Leader
M4589 Bob Young Deputy Group Leader
M5195 George Parkinson Deputy Group Leader
Meetings
We see ourselves as a mutual-assistance group, where members look to each other for advice, help and support. Our members range from having little electronic knowledge to being fairly advanced. Interested members co-operate on their specific interests – e.g. everything from soldering skills and kit building to 3D printing and PIC and Arduino programming. The group aims to cater for all levels of skill. There is no specific commitments required from those who join. Members can put in and take out as much as they wish. None of us know everything and we can all learn from each other in a more informal manner than through the MERG forums and email groups. Of course, you don't have to participate in the Area Group, but you might find that we have a lot to offer - and learn - from each other.
We were very active prior to Covid-19, with all-members meetings in Glasgow on Sundays and fortnightly drop-in sessions on alternate Friday afternoons. In addition, we ran a selection of training workshops on basic electronics, kit building, using oscilloscopes, layout planning software, etc.
Here is a typical members' session.
Previous discussions included power supplies and cutouts, layout wiring, fault finding methods, automation, motors, servos and steppers, making control panels, PCB design software, etc.
And the Next Meeting?
* Replace NN with the number of your area group - get from the AG admin page. Update the contact form title. *
| Date | Event | Description | Location | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00 09-Jun | Scottish Borders Area Group Face to Face | Our face to face meeting working on the 2 layouts | Hawick Men's Shed 7 Lothian Street Hawick TD9 9HD | |
| 19:30 10-Jun | JALSIG Meeting | Members meet up to discuss projects they have been working on. | Online Zoom Meeting | Link |
| 19:30 11-Jun | Arduino SIG | To be advised | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 14:30 12-Jun | 14:30 BST Merseyside Area Group Face To Face | The Merseyside Area Group will hold its next face to face meeting at the Lawlogg clubhouse, starting at 14:30 BST and members are welcome to stop over for the evening session run by Lawlogg, which tends to start at 19:30 and run until 22:00 if they wish. (Please feel free to bring O-gauge stock to run (dc or DCC).) | Lawlogg Clubhouse | Link |
| 14:00 13-Jun | Croydon Area Group: Afternoon Workshop | Help is available on: * SMD module testing, * Kit building, * Kit repair, * ATC, * CBUS, * JMRI, * Raspberry Pi layout control, * Tablet and mobile phone throttles and point operation. | Croydon MRC Club House | |
| 19:00 13-Jun | 19:00 Aberdeen Area Group Meeting | Monthly Meeting | Aberdeen Model Railway Club | Link |
| 19:30 13-Jun | 19:30 BST South Hants AG Zoom Call | Online Zoom Meeting | ||
| 19:30 13-Jun | 19:30 BST South Hants AG Merg Live Meet. | Southampton Model Railway Society clubroom | ||
| 19:00 14-Jun | Croydon Area Group Meeting | 3D Printing and Scanning - Neil | Croydon Model Railway Society Clubhouse | |
| 10:00 15-Jun | Southampton Model Railway Society Open Day | South Hants Area Group will be attending with our MERG demonstration display and Tittesworth layout. If you are attending please feel free to see and speak to us. | SMRS Clubroom is in Kemps Quay, Quayside Road, Southampton. SO18 1BZ. | |
| 19:30 17-Jun | E101 Build Guide Review | The latest Build Guide goes under the microscope to flush out all the errors, typos and erroneous punctuation prior to release. | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 19:30 19-Jun | Tayside Area Group Zoom session | Tayside members meet via Zoom to discuss what they have been working on. | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 14:00 20-Jun | Croydon Area Group: Afternoon Workshop | Help is available on: * SMD module testing, * Kit building, * Kit repair, * ATC, * CBUS, * JMRI, * Raspberry Pi layout control, * Tablet and mobile phone throttles and point operation. | Croydon MRC Club House | |
| 19:30 20-Jun | 19:30 BST South Hants AG Zoom Call | Online Zoom Meeting | ||
| 11:00 21-Jun | MERG Somerset Area Group Virtual Coffee Break | This is an online coffee break where members can relax and chat among themselves about Projects, Progress, Problems and Successes. | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 14:00 21-Jun | Wales North AG Zoom Meeting | GENERAL CHAT AND WHATS ON MY WORKBENCH / HELP & SUPPORT | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 09:30 22-Jun | 09:30 BST South Hants Saturday Workshop | Southampton Model Railway Society clubroom | ||
| 19:30 24-Jun | JALSIG Beginners' Session | We look at topics of interest to Beginners to coding in JAL to help them on their way to creating their own programs. | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 19:30 25-Jun | Arduino SIG | To be advised | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 14:00 27-Jun | Croydon Area Group: Afternoon Workshop | Help is available on: * SMD module testing, * Kit building, * Kit repair, * ATC, * CBUS, * JMRI, * Raspberry Pi layout control, * Tablet and mobile phone throttles and point operation. | Croydon MRC Club House | |
| 19:30 27-Jun | 19:30 BST South Hants AG Zoom Call | Online Zoom Meeting | ||
| 10:30 29-Jun | East Scotland Area Group | The order of events will (roughly) be as follows: 10:30 Arrival, tea, coffee, biccies 11:00 12:00 13:00 Lunch 13:00 14:00 15:30 Finish | The Vennie, Knightsridge East, Livingston EH54 8RA. | |
| 19:00 02-Jul | 19:30 GMT MERG Thames Valley Area Group (TVAG) meeting | Grazeley Village Hall | ||
| 14:00 04-Jul | Croydon Area Group: Afternoon Workshop | Help is available on: * SMD module testing, * Kit building, * Kit repair, * ATC, * CBUS, * JMRI, * Raspberry Pi layout control, * Tablet and mobile phone throttles and point operation. | Croydon MRC Club House | |
| 19:30 04-Jul | 19:30 BST South Hants AG Zoom Call | Online Zoom Meeting | ||
| 20:00 05-Jul | Monthly Virtual AG meeting | Online Zoom Meeting | ||
| 10:00 06-Jul | Tayside Area Group Workshop | Tayside AG members meet to work on a group or their own project. All those registered to the group are welcome to attend. Come along and get solutions to those problems that are holding you back. | The Friary, Tullideph Road, Dundee, DD2 2PN | |
| 10:00 06-Jul | MERG Somerset Area Group Meeting | This is an online meeting subjects to be decided. To get zoom joining information ensure that you are subscribed to the Somerset Area Group in (Your Profile) and view the meeting in (My Upcoming Events). | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 10:00 06-Jul | MERG East Midlands Area Group face to face meeting | Our summer meeting by the sea, kindly hosted by Judi Rastall. James Cunningham on programming sound into DCC decoders and David Ellis on WebFCU | Sutton on Sea | |
| 19:30 08-Jul | JALSIG Meeting | Members meet up to discuss projects they have been working on. | Online Zoom Meeting | Link |
| 14:00 11-Jul | Croydon Area Group: Afternoon Workshop | Help is available on: * SMD module testing, * Kit building, * Kit repair, * ATC, * CBUS, * JMRI, * Raspberry Pi layout control, * Tablet and mobile phone throttles and point operation. | Croydon MRC Club House | |
| 19:30 11-Jul | 19:30 BST South Hants AG Zoom Call | Online Zoom Meeting | ||
| 19:30 11-Jul | 19:30 BST South Hants AG Merg Live Meet. | Southampton Model Railway Society clubroom | ||
| 19:00 12-Jul | Croydon Area Group Meeting | Laser Cutters and Model Railways - Colin | Croydon Model Railway Society Clubhouse | |
| 10:00 13-Jul | West Midlands Area Group Summer Meeting | Details to follow | BCNS, TITFORD PUMP HOUSE, ENGINE STREET, OLDBURTY | |
| 19:30 15-Jul | E101 Build Guide Review | The latest Build Guide goes under the microscope to flush out all the errors, typos and erroneous punctuation prior to release. | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 19:30 17-Jul | Tayside Area Group Zoom session | Tayside members meet via Zoom to discuss what they have been working on. | Online Zoom Meeting |
Other Activities
Here is one of our demonstration layouts that show how to fit MERG kits to augment model railways.
Here is our annual Open Day where we had demonstrations of building baseboards, track laying, point controllers, DCC, layout controls (CBUS and EzyBus), adding lighting, adding sound, Faller road systems, 3D printing, Arduino projects …….
Here is a training workshops we ran on programming Arduinos.
At the moment, we keep in touch with each other through our national and our local websites.
We also have fortnightly Zoom sessions on alternate Sunday afternoons. Subjects covered included:
* Making latching reed switches for coach lighting
* Reusing parts salvaged from old printers and scanners
* Resin 3D printing
* Building animations
* Measuring voltage and current in DCC systems