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Hauling coal and related facilities has been a hobby within the hobby for the last 15 years or so.  I've built two working loadouts and I motorized a Walthers dumper years ago but have never put it into a layout because it's made to be posable not really operational.  As far as live loads, I've had some pretty good spills at the loadout but have never derailed a loaded train bad enough to tip cars over.  I would just get out the vacuum.

Any dimensional information on prototype dumpers and positioners is hard to come by.  I've been working on a scratchbuilt model of a Heyl Patterson dumper. Most of the photos I have are small photos from engineering firm websites showing their projects.  It's the same with the postioner, most reference photos I have are of other things with the positioner in the background.  

I was recently considering making some new end rings for the Walthers kit that could be supported by trunnions instead of the current plastic grinder it is fitted with.  There are some industrial casting resins that would probably be robust enough to make a long lasting casting.

Another challenge is the rotary couplers used in modern trains.  I made them by taking a KD#5 apart and drilling a hole through its length.  I cut the head off and use a pin to reattach it and let it swivel.  It works pretty well but they are tedious to make.  I was using bug pins to reassemble them but the quality of the pins has gone way down, they are no longer all the same size and the heads are mashed on every which way.

Here's a video of the loadout and a rough digital model of the dumper that I used to determine key dimensions.  The actual dumper is pretty far along, I just need to build the clamps and assemble the spill wall.  Then details and paint of course.

Here is an early version of the positioner.  It has proper anchors at the ends and a motor now.  

So, if anyone has photos of prototype facilities I'd love to see them.

Paul

Green Frog coal video

1897 Edison dumper

Did you see this very early dumper by Edison?

Edison's film

I've never seen anything like it.  It looks like it worked pretty well.

This the Green Frog Video You Were Referring to?

DVD-Appalachian Coal -(modeling the prototype)
Quote: Coal is still king in the Appalachia region of the United States and a major source of revenue for several railroads. These railroads and the coal shipments that they carry have also proven to be the source of inspiration for many model railroaders over the years. But what has not been readily available for the modeler or the railfan has been a video source detailing the coal industry. The video begins with a history of the coal industry in Appalachia and progresses to an examination of the journey that coal makes from the mine to the complete coal industry to you, from the mine to the end-user. We bring the complete coal industry to you, from the inside of a coal mine, to preparation plants, storage facilities, loaders, associated equipment, a rotary dumper, coking facilities, steel mills, and of course trains. But it doesn’t stop there. Also included are excellent examples of model train layouts depicting the coal industry. And to help you get started with building your model coal facilities, there is a demonstration on building a conveyer belt system as used by the coal producers and the end-users. Approx. 61 Minutes Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo DVD-Appalachian Coal -(modeling the prototype)

My coal cars are a little on the small side, but

G'day Brian,

My coal wagons are a bit on the small side but they get tipped in here:

 That's it before it got the rest of the roof and the weighbrige office was added.

It ended up looking like

 styrene clapboard with corrugated iron roof and wafted weathering. 

from the other side as viewed from the departure end ​

and as installed

 That's it to the left of the Screens building over the O-scale standard gauge tracks. 

Well, you did ask for coal car dumping structures..It's just that this one dumped 2' gauge coal cars (aka skips),

yep, that's the one

coal/ore dumping

I've always wondered how to model this.  Saw it first-hand as a kid.

Fast forward to 2:30 for the interesting twist for models...if you read the comments posted on the video,the loaded cars are shoved up on the hill into short staging tracks.  Air is bled off each car as needed depending on grade of coal/ore. The car runs back downhill on the opposite side (like a hump operation) into the concrete ramp, pauses as gravity gets it and the spring switch sends onto the track with the automated ram...back up hill into the rotary dumper.