Since Elliot, Bob and Mark have brought up the subject of supportive wives, I thought I would chime in on that.
No question, a supportive wife can be huge for a model railroader. Mine doesn't do anything directly related to my trains or layout, but is still very supportive in the following ways, which may also be true for many of our Forum friends:
1) she's always been tolerant of the hobby, and appreciated the common interest and bonding it provided between me and our son and daughter when they were children;
2) she understood the trains were a good man cave for me to escape to, and get my mind off my prior highly stressful work as a divorce litigator;
3) she appreciated that I did not have the trains completely take over the playroom in the basement. I left room for a large couch still there, and for our teenage kids to socialize with their friends and do things unrelated to the trains.
4) she tolerated me tunneling thru the wall so the trains could leave the playroom in the basement and travel around the washer/drier and 3 walls in the laundery room. Below are pictures of part of my laundery room layout. I usually have a green felt cover over the washer/dryer to hide it:
