Not a Lionel car or engine, but...…. thought this might be of interest to some one.
A few yrs ago and recently I bought several Lionel 455-23 oil drums, decided to drill them out.
Center punch the center where you want to drill the barrel out. If you want a barrel to look rusted out, offset the center punch approx. 1/16" off center, the drill bit will cut slightly along the outer edge.
Approx 1/8" drill bit for pilot hole, 13/32" drill bit for finished hole.
I used 2 strip's of luan to hold the barrels in the vice clamp to help secure and prevent the barrel from rotating while drilling.