Would they still be running today. The Gillig order didn't seem one of WMATA's best. What would have happened if instead of Gillig Phantoms being ordered that Orion Is were ordered. As well as Orions were built back in the day and the fact that WMATA might have had a better relationship Orion instead of Gillig(of course that probably would have still killed with their Orion 7 order). If they were bought the same time that the Gilligs were bought they would have been approaching 21 years old. They still might have been retired, but seeing an Orion I in WMATA colors (2nd and 3rd) would have been interesting.
One other question would be to ask if the first batch of Orion 1s ordered would have worked out would the 5100s have been Orion Is also?
ADDED
The DC Gov't bought the Gilligs, instead of WMATA but still the question is still being asked.
That is an interesting question. One would wonder if the Gilligs were Orion Is, would WMATA have started purchasing Orion Vs much earlier?
Taking a step back, why did WMATA "take a break" and order the 9600s as Orion Vs, rather than Flx Metro Cs? With the lack of "Cs" out there, was Flxible having issues or something?
With those '92 Orion Vs, I bet WMATA learned that they were better off with Flxibles as they went right back. I actually liked the 9600 Orion Vs when they still had their original DD 6V-92TA/Allison powertrain. Once they repowered them, I avoided them like the plague.
I'm guessing that the Orion I probably would've held up better than the Gillig Phantom, but it would've been interesting to see if they would've outlasted the baby Flxibles.