Another one to tick off on a Connie "to fix" list - the wiring in the tender. Its prone to melt its coating and short out. Don't ask me how I know. The magic white smoke made its presence felt once. Thank heavens for the "kill switch" on the TE TX.
I've not had an issue with that - the Deadwood Central has some modified wiring due to the installation of a Mylocosound card, but the Yellow Pine tender body is standard and there's not much wiring to go wrong - as far as I can see.
Generally the Connies run on quite lower power, so under normal track power you're unlikely to melt the wires - unless someone knows otherwise
As for protoype, I think Cuba is a likely candidate - I have a few photos that are pretty close. My two are largely unaltered except for the K27 pilot, and some minor leading truck surgery to suit on the Yellow Pine (and that's only 'cos I broke the cow catcher and it was easier to get a K27 pilot than a Connie pilot at the time).
EDIT - I lied, the photos are in a library book that I've taken out twice - by a chap name of Maidment who is involved with a children's charity (that's all I can remember).