My 2nd wife knew about my hobbies before we met, as I put it on my profile on an on-line dating site. Since my first marriage I think honesty is the key, so if prospective dates didn't like it, it was their loss in my opinion. My wife even mentioned Tornado on our first date, asking if I know anything about it. So I took her to Stourbridge to watch her steam through one Saturday afternoon.
Although football is our main interest in common, she loves spending time with me down by the river Severn at Arley or Trimpley watching the trains go by. I took her to the NEC for the Warley exhibition within three weeks of us dating, and she was fascinated by it all, so much so she disappeared and came back with a Hornby Collectors Loco for me, and said that should fit in with your train set.
Now we have a little man in our lives, I'm now being harassed to get on with my layout so Shaun can watch the trains. I believe an order for a Tomix Thomas has been made recently, that's probably my fathers day present.