Tony Koester’s column in the January MR features photos of one of the very few remaining artifacts of John Allen’s fabulous Gorre & Daphetid, 4-10-0 No. 34, now in the collection of MR’s Andy Sperandeo, who was one of John Allen’s operators on the G&D. For those interested in this famous and precious artifact, try to find Model Railroader for January 1956 page 39. There is an excellent view, from the tender, of this same model, illustrating an article on weathering that can still be read with profit today. Check out the scratchbuilt flatcar and gondola on page 37 if you doubt if John Allen’s models would still be regarded as first rate today. The craftsmanship is exquisite.
Koester’s article was about John Allen’s use of Baker couplers and how they aided in operation and showed that John Allen was far more than a diorama maker but a real operator. I can say that in my earliest days in the hobby I had some cars with Varney dummy knuckle couplers, but also several with Baker couplers – and what Koester is talking about is that Bakers coupled readily, also could be uncoupled with a ramp (more reliably than horn hooks but similarly prone to uncouple unintentionally) or with a magnetic wand held over them (tricky to pull off), but more importantly due to the broad flat surface that met each coupler, you could back up a train with Baker couplers w/o derailment. So true local switching was possible. That is the essence of operation.
In that sense they were much superior to the somewhat similar and quite reliable Mantua hook and loop coupler of the same era (seen in that same Jan 56 issue of MR page 29; the coach caboose combine). It was hard to back up with Mantua couplers without disaster of some sort, because there was no mating surface. They coupled well however.
You could back up fine with the Varney dummy knuckle couplers too but to uncouple or couple you had to lift one car off the track. (they had a great slack action though – every Varney had a spring in the draft gear