Music legend Pete Waterman OBE took time off from the busy run-up to the Eurovision song contest in Norway next month to enjoy his other great passion in life – model railways.

The acclaimed record producer, songwriter, presenter and pop talent judge was invited down to the Bath & West Showground at Shepton Mallet to officially open the two-day South West Model Engineering, Model Making and Hobbies Exhibition on Saturday.

Mr Waterman was helping friend and model-maker Malcolm Mitchell run the Just Like the Real Thing stand at the show.

The pop mogul founded the model railway business which specialises in O-scale kits. He also has his own extensive private collection of railway models and layouts and has written several books and magazine articles on the subject.

Mr Waterman said he had been mad about model railways since he was a boy. Born in Coventry, he went to work for British Rail when he left school. But when the railway depot closed, and inspired by The Beatles' music, he worked as a DJ – and supplemented his income as a grave-digger.

He built up a record collection with rare US imports and his work as a DJ took him all over the UK and then to the US working with top artists.

In 1984 he set up his own company PWL (Pete Waterman Limited) signing producers Matt Aitken and Mike Stock. The trio formed the team Stock, Aitken and Waterman, becoming one of most successful musical production teams of the 1980s.

Mr Waterman and Mike Stock have written this year's UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. That Sounds Good to Me will be sung by Josh Dubovie at the contest in Oslo next month.

He said the finishing touches had been put to the song only the day before the model show and he is due to visit the Norwegian Embassy later this week to make final arrangements.

He said: "We don't expect to win with it – but you never know. And it is great to be playing a part in the contest. But we have already had a major company come forward who are keen to pick up the song and use it for the World Cup.

"So while we might not win the Eurovision Song Contest we might have the biggest song of the year in the world on our hands in the next few weeks. We will have to wait and see."

He said: "Music and model railways have always been my passions – but when I left school it was not an option to make a living out of either. Back then I never dreamed I would one day end up being in the music business and still be able to enjoy model-making as well. I consider myself very fortunate."

Mr Waterman had come down from his home in Cheshire for the show and was staying with his stand colleagues at the Bowlish House Hotel in Shepton Mallet. He knows Shepton Mallet having passed through it many times in his youth on way to family holidays at Blue Anchor Bay and Minehead.

But he said it was the first time he had visited the show – now celebrating its third year at the showground – and he was absolutely thrilled with it.

He said: "It is absolutely fantastic – I love seeing everyone's model skills and all their enthusiasm."

Mr Waterman said it was great to see interest in model-making growing year on year with more young people and families sharing hobbies.

This was borne out by the record crowds of more than 10,000 visitors of all ages who attended the show organised by the Nationwide Media Group.

Show-goers marvelled at the wealth of layouts on shows – which had taken dedicated exhibitors several hours to put up with meticulous care and the utmost patience. Other highlights included Daleks and steam traction engines, and visitors were keen to have a go on whizzing hovercrafts and the fleets of radio-controlled model tanks, planes and boats.

Parents and children queued up to have a go at the various workshops making their own models. And the showground's own miniature railway was kept busy all weekend.

The model aircraft in the flying displays were among the only ones taking to the skies as the volcanic ash situation grounded flights around the world.

But one lone helicopter did fly into the showground bringing in model enthusiasts Pete Lowe and his son Michael all the way from Essex. Carl Cochrane, MD of Kent-based AV8 Helicopters said: "It only took us 50 minutes to get here – and we did not see any other aircraft at all."