MERG East of Scotland Area Group
Model Electronics Railway Group are a bunch of model rail enthusiasts who use electronics to automate their layouts. Most start off not knowing basic electronics or soldering techniques, so we hold meetings and workshops to teach the subject and give practice on kit building. The main MERG website is at http://www.merg.org.uk/
There is a workshop or meeting every month except December:
They are held on the last weekend of the month, every odd month on a Sunday, and every even month on a Saturday.
Meetings are every 3 months (January, April, July and October).
Workshops are held in the remaining months.
Please note:
Due to the current pandemic, we will be holding virtual meetings using Zoom until further notice.
The advantage of learning to build for yourself is the massive cost difference between our kits and commercial systems. These kits come with professionally made circuit boards and excellent instructions. The membership are always there to help you on your project, both by forum and physical presence at the meetings. We regularly hold workshops to learn / brush up on our skills.
We have:
DCC kits
CBUS kits (including entire control system for DC or DCC as well as lineside)
SPROG (DCC multiple loco and accessory control system)
Superbloc (DC multiple loco control system)
RFID
Pocket money projects
Miscellaneous Lineside kits
A brief insight into some of our kits, by one of our Australian members, can be seen here
CBUS is our two wire train and track control system fully supported by RocRail And JMRI.
including DCC Command Unit, computer interface (USB, Serial, and soon LAN), handheld controller, booster and much more.
When you wish to upgrade, there's no throwing anything away and replacing with the "better box". You simply add to the system what you want, when you want. And in the words of a famous antiques dealer, it's "Cheap as chips!"
To have access to these kits, you of course have to become a member. If you are unsure, come along to one of our meetings to see what it's all about.
The group has an extensive free to download library of projects and circuits.
A journal is sent out every 3 months with articles from signals to software, from Arduino to Zebra Crossings.
We hold lectures on various subjects including fault finding, Sound, Pocket Money Projects, Lighting, using servos for points and signals, and many more aspects for layout control and design.
We have workshops to help us gain the knowledge and practice from building circuits to building model foliage.
MERG has over 2000 members spread throughout the world, so we break up the membership into area groups such as this which is based in or around the Edinburgh area. Elsewhere in Scotland we have groups in Glasgow Aberdeen and Nairn. And, of course there are other groups in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, even Shanghai and Australia. Everybody is friendly and willing to help other members and the meetings are informal and relaxed.
If you are interested in what MERG has to offer, please visit www.merg.org.uk for more information, or come along to the next area group meeting or workshop.
If you wish to receive emails from us about future meetings / workshops, please subscribe to our mailing list.
For those who wish to keep up to date with meetings and workshop, and use Google Calendar:
Using the calendar below, left click on the blue plus sign at the bottom right of the calendar.
OR:
right click the URL below, "Copy Link Location" and paste into "Other Calendars" > "Add by URL"