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MERG West Midlands Area Group (WMAG)
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How do I contact the Area Group
* Replace NN with the number of your area group - get from the AG admin page. Update the contact form title. *
Who is the leader of the group?
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Allan Gardner M6237 - Group Leader
Would you like to join today?
Not a member? then
and sign up to this Area Group. If you are already a member
Select West Midlands Area Group from the drop-down list in Other Area Groups and press the Subscribe to Area Group button.
How do you meet?
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In normal times we meet at the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society's premises Titford Pump House, Engine Street, OLDBURY, West Midlands B69 4NL.
There is plenty of car parking – mostly on Engine Street, some within the Pump House compound. The address above includes a Google maps link.
All facilities are at ground level.
We meet four times a year in January, April July and October. We hold two meetings on a Saturday and the other two on a Sunday.
GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS ON GATHERINGS AND TRAVEL
Due to the restrictions we are unable to meet at the moment. Clearly we remain in uncertain times but will meet again once lockdown restrictions are lifted.
What does the group get up to?
Our days meeting normally starts at 10:00 am and concludes at 16:00.
The day is split into two parts.
The morning session is more formal in so far as we have one or more guest speakers. The topics are far-ranging. Take a look at the next section to see some of our previous meetings.
The afternoon session is informal and generally consists of:
- Members working on their current project (normally a KIT). We will do our best to help with construction and problem-solving.
- Talking to presenters about the days topic.
- Passing the day talking all thing model railway electronics.
We charge a modest £3 for the day which we donate to our venue host for the use of the Pumphouse.
We do not charge for tea, coffee or the superb cakes that are kindly supplied by one of our members' wives.
What Have We Done Previously?
And the Next Meeting?
| Date | Event | Description | Location | Link |
|---|
What is Happening Online?
Currently, WMAG members are participating in the Zoom calls being organised by the nearby East Midlands, Warwickshire and North Oxfordshire and the Virtual area groups.
Some forthcoming activities are as follows: -
East Midlands Area Group
The East Midlands Area Group hosts a very popular call once per month.
| Date | Event | Description | Location | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 19-Jun | MERG East Midlands Area group ONLINE meeting | Zoom meeting, agenda to follow. | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 09:00 26-Jun | Introduction to CBUS weekend course | Beginners intro to CBUS weekend, assuming no prior knowledge. Learn the basics of CBUS, build CBUS kits, get them working and learn how to set up your CBUS for your layout. Note that this is a new date to allow for lockdown timetable. | Rushden Transport Museum | Link |
| 09:00 17-Jul | MORE CBUS weekend course | A follow on course from "Introduction to CBUS" that covers many more detailed facets of CBUS, including logic using CANCOMPUTE and working with the Universal CANMIO firwmware. | Rushden Transport Museum | Link |
| 09:00 24-Jul | Starting out with JMRI Panel Pro weekend course | Introductory course on using JMRI Panel Pro to create control panels and operate the layout. This course assumes no prior knowledge of JMRI. | Rushden Transport Museum | Link |
| 10:00 07-Aug | MERG East Midlands Area group meeting | Restrictions permitting, this will be our first face to face meeting since early 2020. Agenda to follow, watch this space. | Wellingborough |
Warwickshire and North Oxfordshire Area Group
Our colleagues at Warwick and North Oxford AG are holding biweekly virtual meetings on a Wednesday evening. East Midlands AG are also holding monthly virtual all-day meeting. The schedule of both these groups is given below. If you are interested in attending these groups sign up here and select ‘join area group’.
| Date | Event | Description | Location | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 16-Jun | Warwickshire, North Oxfordshire VIRTUAL Area Group meeting | Colin Head - My Garden Railway | Online Zoom Meeting | |
| 19:00 30-Jun | Warwickshire, North Oxfordshire VIRTUAL Area Group meeting | Discussion - The future of the WNO Group | Online Zoom Meeting |
Virtual Area Group
The Virtual Area Group offers short one hour presentations and discussions every week. Active participants call in from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Icelend, UK and USA.
| Date | Event | Description | Location | Link |
|---|
What Local Organisations do we work with?
Link to local model railway sites.
The MERG West Midlands Area Group have attended model railway exhibitions, organised by the following clubs: -
Stafford Railway Circle
Bourneville Model Railway Club
Warley Model Railway Club
