A FAMILY-run modelling business based in Skipton has been making its mark with a national audience on one of television’s most quirky hit shows.

Metcalfe Models and Toys has provided many of the card construction models which the competing teams use as part of their backdrops on Channel’s 5’s ‘The Great Model Railway Challenge.’

The show has proved popular with the model-making fraternity across the country, as railway modellers compete to create their own miniature layouts against the clock.

Each team is allowed to incorporate a limited number of pre-made elements into its particular creation on each show, which is co-presented by James Richardson, best known from Channel 4’s coverage of Italian football in the 1990s.

There are five heats to the show, with the third being shown tomorrow, Friday. The grand final is due to be transmitted on Friday, November 9.

Metcalfe Models and Toys managing director and head designer Nick Metcalfe said: “Metcalfe Models have been long established as one of the leading manufacturers in the model railway hobby industry.

“Metcalfe has become synonymous with high quality products, loved by model railway fans across the world.

“It is important to the company to be included alongside the big household names of the hobby industry on such a platform.”

Metcalfe’s has built up a global customer base, with exports to to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and across Europe.

The show is the first of its kind to appear on British television.

Some of the nation’s most talented railway modellers are competing to compete with each other to create outstanding layouts and diorama.

The series is being sponsored by Metcalfe’s, as well as by many of the main model manufacturers.

Each week, three teams of modellers compete to build the best layout possible in just two-and-a-half days, with their constructions being judged by a panel of industry experts. The episode to be shown tomorrow is on the theme of ‘globetrotting.’