MERG related courses

If you know about any other relevant courses not listed here, please add them.

Note that you do not have to be a MERG member to come on these courses.

JMRI Part 2 – Blocks, Routing, Logic and Signalling

9th to 12th November 2018 (Rushden)

Please note change of date to avoid a clash with the MERG AGM

This is part 2 of our three JMRI courses.

The course will take place in the “Goods Shed” meeting room at the Rushden Transport Museum & Railway, Rushden Station, Northamptonshire.

This is a weekend course for those already familiar and competent with the basics of JMRI.

As a pre-requisite you should have attended our introduction to JMRI Panel Pro course, or be fluent with drawing a layout diagram in the Layout Editor, setting up turnouts & sensors, turnout feedback, linking from a Layout Editor Panel to the physical layout & the basics of train detection.

JMRI Part 2 – Blocks, Routing and Signalling course details

JMRI Part 3 – Automation with scripts and the Dispatcher

16-18th March 2019 (Rushden)

Date now confirmed

This is part 3 of our three JMRI courses.

This is a weekend course for JMRI power users who want to take it on to partial or full automation.

As a pre-requisite you should be a fluent JMRI user, having attended our Introduction and part 2 courses, or be comfortable with setting up panels in the Layout Editor, blocks and train detection, pathing and signalling.

JMRI Part 3 – Automation with scripts and the Dispatcher course details

3D printing

27-29th April 2019 (Rushden)

Date now confirmed - bookings are open

This is a weekend course to enable those with little or no experience of CAD to draw and 3D print their first models. The course is ‘hands on’ and you will work at your own pace through a structured introduction to Sketchup Make, the free CAD program we will be using. 3D printers will be available so that you can experience the whole process from design to print.

Your tutor will be MERG 3D guru, Bob Gledhill.

The course assumes no prior knowledge about 3D printing.

3D printing course details

More CBUS

PROVISIONAL DETAILS

9-10th July 2019

Strode College, Somerset

This course is for those already familiar with the basics of CBUS, who would like to take it further.

The course will take place at Strode College in Somerset, as part of their Summer Workshops.

This course assumes that you have attended the Introduction to CBUS course, or that you already have a good understanding of the basics of CBUS, building modules and getting them working.

Booking will be direct with Strode College, bookings are expected to open in April before Easter and details of how to do so will be posted here when available.

More CBUS weekend course details

STARTING OUT WITH JMRI PANEL PRO

PROVISIONAL DETAILS

11-12th July 2019

Strode College, Somerset

The course will take place at Strode College in Somerset, as part of their Summer Workshops.

JMRI is free software that you can download to control your model railway.

The course assumes no previous knowledge of JMRI and takes you through from first principles.

Booking will be direct with Strode College, details of how to do so will be posted here when available.

For details of these courses, follow the link below:

Starting out with JMRI Panel Pro course details

Introduction to DCC

4-6th October 2019 (Missenden Abbey)

This course is for those who are new to DCC (Digital Command Control) of model railways, and assumes no prior knowledge.

The course will take place as part of the Missenden Railway Modellers autumn weekend in 2019.

For those just considering or starting out in DCC, this weekend course will take you from first principles through fitting decoders to DCC operations, including the use of Decoder Pro for setting up your decoders.

This course assumes no previous knowledge of DCC.

Bookings are expected to open in May and will be via the Missenden Railway Modellers website.

Introduction to DCC weekend course details

Missenden Railway Modellers weekends

The Missenden Railway Modellers Weekends are workshops with expert tutors from MERG on hand. The Autumn weekend every October includes electronics classes that come with expert MERG tutors, covering all aspects of electronics for model railways including CBUS.

In October 2018, we will be running a beginners group with John Gowers integrated with a general workshop group with Mike Bolton. The beginners group will have breakout sessions on specific subjects. We are also running the “Introduction to DCC” course once again with Pete Brownlow as described above.

Bookings are expected to open in May and will be via the Missenden Railway Modellers website.

Missenden Railway Modellers weekend

Introduction to CBUS

13th to 16th September 2019 (Rushden)

Please note revised date form original one announced provisionally. This revised date is now confirmed

By popular demand, we have arranged another weekend course for those who want to learn about CBUS.

The course will take place in the “Goods Shed” meeting room at the Rushden Transport Museum & Railway, Rushden Station, Northamptonshire.

For those just starting out in CBUS, this weekend course will take you from first principles through building CBUS kits to setting up CBUS operations.

This course assumes no previous knowledge of CBUS.

Introduction to CBUS weekend course details