Marty,
I've seen nothing about this is possibility, neither here in the OGR forum, nor any other train forum, nor via Google search, nor the mouth of Lionel -- but you have better connections than I do.
If connecting the Base-1 to the Base-3 gets the job done then I'm all for it. Among other things it saves Cab-1's and Base-1's from going in the landfill especially for folks who prefer using them instead of phones.
It's also a nice save for Lionel -- to overcome what appeared to be a sizable marketing headache.
Mike