Paul Catapano asked: "GENERALLY did railroads assign cars to LCL service semi-permanently?"
Yes, but the numbers were never as large as the railroad marketing departments have led many to believe. Those specially equipped cars with the fancy paint were certainly assigned to LCL service, but far greater numbers of clean general service boxcars spent part of their time moving LCL.
"Were doors and or dock space reserved for LCL service at larger freight houses?"
Yes. See Chuck Yungkurth's "Freight Houses and Railroad LCL Service" in the November 1984 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.
