  CLARA (Compact Linear Advanced Research Accelerator)at Daresbury Laboratory
is proposed to be the UK's national FEL test facility. The accelerator will be
a ~250 MeV electron linac capable of producing short, high brightness electron
bunches. The machine comprises a 2.5cell RF photocathode gun, one 2 m and three
5 m normal conducting S-band (2998MHz) accelerating structures and a variable
magnetic compression chicane. CLARA will be used as a test bed for novel FEL
configurations. We present a comparison of acceleration and compression schemes
for the candidate machine layout.
