We present the first CCD photometric observations of the northern open cluster NGC 2126 .
Data were taken on eight nights in February and December 2002 with a total time span of \sim 57 hours .
Almost 1000 individual V -band frames were examined to find short-period variable stars .
We discovered six new variable stars , of which one is a promising candidate for an eclipsing binary with a pulsating component .
Two stars were classified as \delta Scuti stars and one as Algol-type eclipsing binary .
Two stars are slow variables with ambiguous classification .
From absolute V ( RI ) _ { C } photometry we have estimated the main characteristics of the cluster : m - M = 11 \aas@@fstack { m } 0 \pm 0 \aas@@fstack { m } 5 , E ( V - I ) = 0 \aas@@fstack { m } 4 \pm 0 % \aas@@fstack { m } 1 , E ( V - R ) = 0 \aas@@fstack { m } 08 \pm 0 \aas@@fstack { m } 06 ( E ( B - V ) = 0 % \aas@@fstack { m } 2 \pm 0 \aas@@fstack { m } 15 ) and d = 1.3 \pm 0.6 kpc .
Cluster membership is suggested for three variable stars from their positions on the colour-magnitude diagram .