Great pics. I am also a fan of those cement hoppers. What brand are those?
Down here at the Mykawa SF yard, there is a concrete plant. They bring in gondolas with gravel, to unload them they set a track hoe up on the cars, then they start unloading them with the bucket. I've been meaning to get a photo of them.
Do you have a cement plant on your layout? Would love to see it if you do. I'm considering putting one on my layout. I saw and ad in a 2004 MRR of a Walthers plant, looked pretty huge, and also looked pretty neat. MSRP was $70 though, makes me consider a scratchbuild. Although with the tinkering around I have done, I'm not sure scratchbuilding is all that much cheaper, I suppose it all comes down to resourcefulness in using cheap and free stuff versus buying scratchbuilding components.