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Mark Sobichevsky, Carpenter, 5 years
Working here has renewed my faith in the trades. I worked four years in the repair shop on Mason, and then I didn’t place high enough on the civil service exam and was let go. I started a construction company. The pay was pretty lucrative, but there was no retirement and a lot of stress. So I retook the test and got rehired. My heart is in building the cable cars. Learning to work on them is making me a better carpenter. Eventually I will be able to build one of these on my own. I’ve built seats and different sections, and I’m pretty close to being able to do the whole thing. There are hundreds of pieces to mill, and some of them are mirrors pieces, so it’s easy to get mixed up if you don’t keep your wits. We also renovate the old cars, which is harder than building a new one. A lot of times the cars are whacked out of plumb and level. For example, on Car 24 we had to replace the whole roof. We are used to making things exact, but putting something perfect on something that is out of square requires a lot of adaptation. You can’t just give it a few taps. When we finish a car, there’s a panel where the carpenters sign their names and put things. On the next one, I’m going to write my daughter’s name and the date, and maybe place in it a photograph of her.
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