MERG East Midlands Area Group News

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Joint area group coordinators - Pete Brownlow and John Gowers

To contact us, use Contact MERG and please indicate East Midlands Area Group in your message

For MERG members, you might also like to look at our area group forum.

May 2024 East Midlands face to face area group meeting

Here is the agenda for our May 2024 area group meeting, which has a Railcom theme.

Sunday 19th May 2024 from 10:00

Please note that this meeting is on the Sunday for a change. This is due to venue availability, but may also allow some who have other regular commitments, or have to work, on Saturdays to get along.

This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Kingsway Model Railway Society (KMRS) at the Kingsway Centre in Wellingborough.

We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover the venue hire and teas/coffees. Note that one payment covers both, you don't need to pay separately for the teas and coffees. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and refreshments, we will donate the difference to KMRS.

The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.

You can either bring a packed lunch or nip out to somewhere locally, the town centre is about 5 minutes drive away and there is a co-op shop a few minutes walk away.

Provided the Internet connection at the venue is working, we will have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. I will add a Zoom link to the meeting info, so that it appears in your upcoming meetings on the MERG website.

More details of parking and how to find the venue will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place. Please remember to book a place and not just turn up on spec, in case there are any changes we need to let you know about, and so we know how many people to cater for.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:40 - The Kingsway Model Railway Society - Roger Barker

10:45 - Introduction to Railcom - what it is and why you might use it - Pete Brownlow

11:00 - Railcom in detail - Michael Smith

11:45 - Tea/coffee break

12:00 - Railcom continued - Michael Smith

12:30 - Setting up Railcom on JMRI, and demo of Railcom in action on the MSM layout - Pete Brownlow

13:00 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall

13:15 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic.

The Kingsway Model Railway Society 00 gauge layout will be open and running. This uses the MERG DCC system and CBUS. Pete will also have the Missenden St Mary's layout set up and running, to demonstrate Railcom and other MERG systems in use.

Feel free if you want to bring something to run, the 00 gauge layout and MSM are both DCC.

During the afternoon, Michael will be on hand for further discussions and demonstrations of Railcom.

We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving, techniques such as soldering etc.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, a week or so before the meeting, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the week before the meeting).

March 2024 East Midlands face to face area group meeting

Here is the agenda for our March 2024 area group meeting.

Saturday 16th March 2024 from 10:00

This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society at their clubrooms on Retford Railway Station.

Thanks to MERG and Bassetlaw Railway Society member Julian Pratt for arranging the venue for us.

The Bassetlaw Railway Society are not charging us for the use of the room, but we will ask for a donation of £2 per head to cover the cost of teas & coffees and biscuits, and make a donation to the Society.

Access is step free, but the entry door to the clubrooms is probably not wide enough for a powered wheelchair.

For those coming by train, there are reasonable arrivals from east (9:50), west (9:20) and north (9:38). From the south, there is one from Peterborough and Newark arriving at (8:45) and one from Kings Cross and Grantham arriving at (8:51), so you will be waiting a while before the meeting starts, but as railway enthusiasts you can of course enjoy watching the trains pass by during your wait. :)

Parking is now: £6.25 at the station, £4.95 at https://victoriaroadcarpark.com or £4 at Cobwell Road, DN22 7DD https://parkanddonate.co.uk, 3 mins walk.

There is a Costa Coffee on the station, a convenience store 2 minutes walk away and Retford has many excellent eating places, just 12 minutes walk away, or you may bring a packed lunch.

There is no Wi-Fi at the venue, so a Zoom connection will not be possible. If presenters need to access something online, we may be able to use mobile phone hotspots, 4G coverage permitting.

More details of parking and how to find the clubrooms will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:40 - The Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society - Julian Pratt

10:50 - MERG news - John Gowers (MERG chairman)

11:00 - The CANXIO - Pete Brownlow

11:45 - Tea/coffee break

12:00 - The Raspberry Pi Pico - David Jones

12:45 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall

13:15 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic.

During the afternoon our chairman, John Gowers, will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about MERG committee matters etc.

The Bassetlaw Railway Society modelling rooms will be open, where the main 00 gauge layout will be operated by society members and other layouts will be on display, including a newly started N gauge, a nearly ready O gauge and a Triang TT.

We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving etc.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, a week or so before the meeting, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the week before the meeting).

January 2024 East Midlands ONLINE area group meeting

Here is the agenda for our January online Zoom area group meeting.

Saturday 20th January 2024 from 10:00

This meeting will be online using Zoom.

As before, we have found that regular breaks of roughly 10-15 mins worked well, to avoid people getting fatigued from staring at their screens, so we will plan to do the same again.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Get connected, Informal chat

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:45 - Essex Brick part 2 - getting into using YAAT for automation - Eddy

11:30 - Tea/coffee break (make your own!)

11:45 - My initial exploration of the Hornby HM7000 system - David Page

12:15 - QnA on the above talks

12:30 - Kit and other news

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 on - General QnA and help clinic

For the help clinic session in the afternoon, if you have built something and would like any help and advice, please be ready to wave it at the camera, and we'll see what help and advice we can give from afar.

If you would like to join in, please go to the MERG website, select the menu option MEMBER LINKS→MY UPCOMING EVENTS, or go directly to https://merg.org.uk/membership/summary.php, and you should see the details of this meeting together with the Zoom link to join in

Please don't share the Zoom links with anyone outside MERG, or post them on any public social media or web page.

If you cannot see the details for East Midlands area group meetings, go to https://www.merg.org.uk/membership and make sure you are subscribed to the East Midlands area group. There is no requirement that you live in the East Midlands, any member can subscribe and join in. If you would like to introduce a visitor to the meeting, please email their details to eastmids@merg.org.uk.

If you still can't get the Zoom link, send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk and I'll email you the Zoom link.

I will send out the usual reminder email, it will go automatically to everyone who is subscribed to this area group.

December 2023 East Midlands ONLINE area group meeting

Here is the agenda for our December 2023 online Zoom area group meeting.

Saturday 9th December from 10:00

This meeting will be online using Zoom.

As before, we have found that regular breaks of roughly 10-15 mins worked well, to avoid people getting fatigued from staring at their screens, so we will plan to do the same again.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Get connected, Informal chat

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:45 - Essex Brick a lockdown to exhibition layout - Eddy

11:30 - Tea/coffee break (make your own!)

11:45 - Update on my developments with DCC, CBUS and JMRI - Pete Brownlow

12:45 - QnA

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 on - General QnA and help clinic

For the help clinic session in the afternoon, if you have built something and would like any help and advice, please be ready to wave it at the camera, and we'll see what help and advice we can give from afar.

If you would like to join in, please go to the MERG website, select the menu option MEMBER LINKS→MY UPCOMING EVENTS, or go directly to https://merg.org.uk/membership/summary.php, and you should see the details of this meeting together with the Zoom link to join in

Please don't share the Zoom links with anyone outside MERG, or post them on any public social media or web page.

If you cannot see the details for East Midlands area group meetings, go to https://www.merg.org.uk/membership and make sure you are subscribed to the East Midlands area group. There is no requirement that you live in the East Midlands, any member can subscribe and join in. If you would like to introduce a visitor to the meeting, please email their details to eastmids@merg.org.uk.

If you still can't get the Zoom link, send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk and I'll email you the Zoom link.

I will send out the usual reminder email, it will go automatically to everyone who is subscribed to this area group.

OCTOBER 2023 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting

Saturday 21st October 2023 from 10:00

The meeting is Kindly hosted by the Nene Valley Railway at Wansford. Thanks to MERG and NVR member Russ Jenner for arranging the venue for us.

We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover both the venue hire and teas/coffees for the day. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and supplying refreshments, we will donate the difference to the NVR.

The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.

There is a cafe on site, I will confirm arrangements, but most likely we will pass the menu around in the morning so you can order lunch if you wish.

If the Wifi at the venue is working well enough, we will endeavour to have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. However, the meeting will be optimised for those who manage to get along, who will get the best experience.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome to NVR and housekeeping - Russ Jenner

10:35 - Group news and Introductions

10:45 - CBUS and JMRI at Gwynne Junction - James Cunningham - including some or all of CANMIO Rev K, JMRI semaphore signalling, my JMRI touchscreen signal box and Railcom

11:45 - Tea/coffee break

12:00 - MERG & kit locker updates - Judi Rastall

12:30 - The Universal Experimenters Module - Pete Brownlow

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

13:30 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic

During the afternoon, as well as our usual help and problem solving clinic, Russ advises that the railwayana shop at NVR will be open which now has quite a lot of double 00 and a few N and O gauge second hand stock.

If he can get the 00 layout running for the afternoon he will do so.

Short trips to the NVR shed will be available during the afternoon.

It is a running day at NVR with 3 trains, pulled by W D Austerity.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in the week before the meeting, you will get a reply with full address details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers. Please don't just turn up on spec, in case there are last minute changes we need to let you know about.

Let us know if you need a lift from Peterborough station. Please plan to arrive at Peterborough station no later than 9:30am, so whoever picks you up does not have to miss any of the meeting.

(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I have noted you and I will be sending out confirmation emails in the week before the meeting.)

JULY 2023 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting

Saturday 8th July 2023 from 10:00

Due to Judi's building work not being complete in time, we have swapped the venues for our July and September meetings.

This meeting will now be at Aisthorpe Village Hall, near Lincoln, Kindly hosted by Lincoln & District Model Railway Club (L&DMRC) at Scampton and Aisthorpe Village hall, near Lincoln.

Thanks to Richard Joyce for organising the venue for us.

Tea and Coffee will be available all day, please bring your own packed lunch as there are no other facilities nearby.

We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover the venue hire and teas/coffees. Note that one payment covers both, you don't need to pay separately for the teas and coffees. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and refreshments, we will donate the difference to L&DMRC.

The venue has level step free access and reasonable parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.

Provided the Internet connection at the venue is working well, we will have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. I will add a Zoom link to the meeting info, so that it appears in your upcoming meetings on the MERG website.

More details of parking and how to find the venue will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place. Please remember to book a place and not just turn up on spec, in case there are any changes we need to let you know about.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:45 - Introduction to the Lincoln & District Model Railway Club - Richard Joyce

10:50 - The CANPROG - what it is, building one, using it to program PICs - Pete Brownlow

11:30 - Tea/coffee break

11:45 - Update on FCU development (CBUS FLim Config Utility) - Julian Pratt

12:15 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:00 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic - including FCU tutorial if requested

There should also be a chance to see some of the L&DMRC layouts.

We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving, techniques such as soldering etc.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in the week before the meeting, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

Please book a place rather than just turning up on spec, if there are any last minute changes we need to know who is coming so that we can contact you.

(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the week before the meeting).

May 2023 East Midlands ONLINE area group meeting

Here is the agenda for our May 2023 online Zoom area group meeting.

Saturday 27th May from 10:00

This meeting will be online using Zoom.

As before, we have found that breaks of roughly 10-15 mins per hour worked well, to avoid people getting fatigued from staring at their screens, so we will plan to do the same again.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Get connected, Informal chat

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:45 - MERG and kit locker news

11:00 - FCU (CBUS Config utility) - development news and status - Pete Brownlow

11:30 - Tea/coffee break (make your own!)

11:45 - WebFCU (alternative CBUS config utility) - David Ellis

12:15 - From the MERG chairman - John Gowers

12:45 - MERG AGM event - possible East Mids Area group involvement

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 on - General QnA and help clinic

For the QnA sessions, if you have built something and would like any help and advice, please be ready to wave it at the camera, and we'll see what help and advice we can give from afar.

If you would like to join in, please go to the MERG website, select the menu option MEMBER LINKS→MY UPCOMING EVENTS, or go directly to https://merg.org.uk/membership/summary.php, and you should see the details of this meeting together with the Zoom link to join in

Please don't share the Zoom links with anyone outside MERG, or post them on any public social media or web page.

If you cannot see the details for East Midlands area group meetings, go to https://www.merg.org.uk/membership and make sure you are subscribed to the East Midlands area group. There is no requirement that you live in the East Midlands, any member can subscribe and join in. If you would like to introduce a visitor to the meeting, please email their details to eastmids@merg.org.uk.

If you still can't get the Zoom link, send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk and I'll email you the Zoom link.

I will send out the usual reminder email to everyone subscribed to the area group, it will go automatically to everyone who is subscribed to this area group.

APRIL 2023 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting

Saturday 8th April 2023 from 10:00

Here is the agenda for our April meeting.

This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Kingsway Model Railway Society (KMRS) at the Kingsway Centre in Wellingborough.

We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover the venue hire and teas/coffees. Note that one payment covers both, you don't need to pay separately for the teas and coffees. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and refreshments, we will donate the difference to KMRS.

The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.

You can either bring a packed lunch or nip out to somewhere locally, the town centre is about 5 minutes drive away and there is a co-op shop a few minutes walk away.

Provided the Internet connection at the venue is working, we will have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. I will add a Zoom link to the meeting info, so that it appears in your upcoming meetings on the MERG website.

More details of parking and how to find the venue will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place. Please remember to book a place and not just turn up on spec, in case there are any changes we need to let you know about, and so we now how many people to cater for.

AGENDA

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:40 - Introduction to the Kingsway Model Railway Society - Roger Barker

10:45 - CBUS update - what has been happening in the CBUS world - Pete Brownlow

11:30 - Tea/coffee break

11:45 - The new improved MERG ATC system - Mike Collins

12:30 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic

The Kingsway Model Railway Society 00 gauge layout will be open and partially running (one corner currently has an engineering possession for relaying the track). This uses the MERG DCC system and CBUS. The N gauge layout will also be set up. Pete will also have the Missenden St Mary's layout set up and running.

Feel free if you want to bring something to run, the 00 layouts are DCC, the N gauge layout is analogue.

We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving, techniques such as soldering etc.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, before the event, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

Please book a place rather than just turning up on spec, if there are any last minute changes we need to know who is coming so that we can contact you. Regards,

Pete

SEPTEMBER 2022 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting

Saturday 3rd September 2022 from 10:00

Here is the agenda for our September meeting.

This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Kingsway Model Railway Society at the Kingsway Centre in Wellingborough.

We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover the venue hire and teas/coffees. Note that one payment covers both this time, you don't need to pay separately for the teas and coffees. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and refreshments, we will donate the difference to KMRS.

The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.

You can either bring a packed lunch or nip out to somewhere locally, the town centre is about 5 minutes drive away. There is a co-op shop a few minutes walk away.

Provided the Internet connection at the venue is working, we will have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. I will add a Zoom link to the meeting info, so that it appears in your upcoming meetings on the MERG website.

More details of parking and how to find the venue will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place. PLease remember to book a place and not just turn up on spec, in case there are any changes we need to let you know about.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:40 - Introduction to the Kingsway Model Railway Society - Roger barker

10:45 - Turntable Tales - My journey so far with the Peco Turntable and MERG Turntable Controller - kit John Wood
(Also includes using Julian's auto-reverser to power the deck)

11:15 - Tea/coffee break

11:30 - DCC and CBUS new developments with live demo - Pete Brownlow
(Including new features in CANCMD, CANCOMPUTE and development news on CANMIO (Universal) )

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic

The Kingsway Model Railway Society 00 gauge layout will be open and running, this uses the MERG DCC system and CBUS. The N gauge layout will also be set up. Pete will also have the Missenden St Mary's layout set up and running.

Feel free if you want to bring something to run, the 00 layouts are DCC, the N gauge layout is analogue.

We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving, techniques such as soldering etc.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in a day or two, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

Please book a place rather than just turning up on spec, if there are any last minute changes we need to know who is coming so that we can contact you.

(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the next few days).

JULY 2022 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting

Saturday 9th July 2022 from 10:00

The meeting is Kindly hosted by the Nene Valley Railway at Wansford. Thanks to MERG and NVR member Russ Jenner for arranging the venue for us.

We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover both the venue hire and teas/coffees for the day. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and supplying refreshments, we will donate the difference to the NVR.

The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.

There is a cafe on site, we will pass the menu around in the morning so you can order lunch if you wish.

If the Wifi at the venue is working well enough, we will endevour have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. However, the meeting will be optimised for those who manage to get along, who will get the best experience.

It is a running day on the NVR, purple timetable, scheduled to be a mix of steam and the Peak diesel. See the NVR website for more details.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:40 - Developing FCU - progress and challenges, David Radcliffe

11:20 - Tea/coffee break

11:30 - Colin Head - Demo and progress report on my layout (which has no name yet!)

12:10 - MERG & kit locker updates - Judi Rastall

12:30 - LUNCH BREAK

13:30 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic

Note: “FCU” is the FLiM Config Utility, used to configure CBUS modules from a computer

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message here in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in due course, you will get a reply with full address details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

Let us know if you need a lift from Peterborough station. Please plan to arrive at Peterborough station no later than 9:30am, so whoever picks you up does not have to miss any of the meeting.

Those who have already let us know that you are coming, you should have received a confirmation email with directions, parking, lunch details etc. If you have not received your confirmation email, please get in touch.

APRIL 2022 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting

Saturday 16th April 2022 from 10:00

This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Kingsway Model Railway Society at the Kingsway Centre in Wellingborough.

We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover the venue hire and teas/coffees. Note that one payment covers both this time, you don't need to pay separately for the teas and coffees. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and refreshments, we will donate the difference to KMRS.

The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.

You can either bring a packed lunch or nip out to somewhere locally, the town centre is about 5 minutes drive away. There is a co-op shop a few minutes walk away.

We will have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. I have added the Zoom link to the meeting info, so that it appears in your upcoming meetings on the MERG website.

More details of parking and how to find the venue will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:35 - Introduction to the Kingsway Model Railway Society - Roger barker

10:45 - My CBUS & JMRI journey - Julian Pratt (held over from the previous meeting)

11:30 - Tea/coffee break

11:45 - Kit locker update - news about MERG kits - Judi Rastall

12:15 - CBUS update - developments and things I am working on - Pete Brownlow

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic

The Kingsway Model Railway Society 00 gauge layout will be open and running, this uses the MERG DCC system and CBUS. The N gauge layout will also be set up.

We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving etc. There will also be the chance to operate the Kingsway 00 gauge layout using the MERG DCC system.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in a day or two, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the next day or two).

FEBRUARY 2022 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting

Saturday 26th February 2022 from 10:00

This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society at their clubrooms on Retford Railway Station.

Thanks to MERG and Bassetlaw Railway Society member Julian Pratt for arranging the venue for us.

The Bassetlaw Railway Society are not charging us for the use of the room, but we will ask for a donation of £2 per head to cover the cost of teas & coffees and make a donation to the Society.

Parking is available in the station car park at a cost of £5. You can of course come by train to Retford Station.

If we can get a Wi-Fi connection at the venue, we will have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. However, I understand we are reliant on the LNER hosted Wi-Fi at the station, so we don't yet know if this will be possible.

Numbers will be limited to 20, to ensure reasonable separation. Mask wearing is now optional, please make your own choice. We would recommend that everyone takes a lateral flow test before coming.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members

10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions

10:40 - The Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society - Julian Pratt

10:50 - Different cabs for the MERG DCC system - Simon West, John Gowers & Pete Brownlow

11:30 - Tea/coffee break

11:45 - Different cabs for the MERG DCC system - continued

12:15 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall

12:30 - My CBUS & JMRI journey - Julian Pratt

13:00 - LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations, soldering clinic and practical problems help clinic

The cabs session will cover basic how to use the MERG DCC system, circuit designs, the standard MERG CANCAB and other variations designed by members.

During the afternoon John Gowers will provide a soldering clinic, both through hole and surface mount.

We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving etc.

If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in a few days, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.

(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the next few days.)

JANUARY 2022 East Midlands ONLINE area group meeting

Here is the agenda for our January 2022 online area group meeting.

Saturday 15th January from 10:00

This meeting will be online using Zoom.

As before, we have found that breaks of roughly 10-15 mins per hour worked well, to avoid people getting fatigued from staring at their screens, so we will plan to do the same again.

AGENDA

The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:

10:00 - Get connected, sort out any microphone/audio/video issues, have a chat.

10:30 - Welcome and Introductions

10:45 - - CBUS miscellany - Pete Brownlow

Latest CANMO (Universal) firmware release

Using RFID and Railcom in JMRI

CBUS control panels for Burnden Park

Any other CBUS updates

11:30 - Tea/coffee break (make your own!)

11:45 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall

12:00 - Lunch break

13:00 - QnA and anyone looking for advice and help on any projects

For the QnA sessions, if you have built something and would like any help and advice, please be ready to wave it at the camera, and we'll see what help and advice we can give from afar.

If you would like to join in, please go to the MERG website, select the menu option MEMBER LINKS→MY UPCOMING EVENTS, or go directly to https://merg.org.uk/membership/summary.php, and you should see the details of this meeting together with the Zoom link to join in (Note- I updated the link earlier this week as there was a problem with the original one posted)

Please don't share the Zoom links with anyone outside MERG, or post them on any public social media or web page.

If you cannot see the details for East Midlands area group meetings, go to https://www.merg.org.uk/membership and make sure you are subscribed to the East Midlands area group. There is no requirement that you live in the East Midlands, any member can subscribe and join in. If you would like to introduce a visitor to the meeting, please email their details to eastmids@merg.org.uk.

If you still can't get the Zoom link, send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk and I'll email you the Zoom link.

I will send out the usual reminder email to everyone subscribed to the area group soon, it will go automatically to everyone who is subscribed to this area group.

Details of Earlier East Midlands Area Group meetings

Details of previous East Midlands Area Group meetings
and Details of more previous East Midlands Area Group meetings
NB. These links are for MERG members only.