Mechanics Bay contained the mouth of the stream issuing from the springs in the Auckland Domain to the south.

The former Auckland Railway Station is located here, an impressive brick 1930s structure designed by Gummer and Ford.

Formerly located at the bottom of Queen Street, the station was moved to Beach Road to be the centrepiece for the new downtown business area of Auckland.

The station was decommissioned and the railway terminal returned to its original location, now named the Britomart Transport Centre.

International flights from Britain by Imperial Airways via India, Singapore and Australia connected with TEAL for the Sydney to Auckland leg.

The Short Solent or Boeing 314 flying boats landed in Mechanics Bay, which was the centre of international aviation for New Zealand until the 1950s.

Even after the construction of Auckland International Airport at Māngere in the 1960s, Mechanics Bay was still used by flying boats to the Pacific Islands, e.g. for the Coral Route to Fiji.

Operating from what is now the Marine Rescue Centre, they were located near Compass Dolphin (since destroyed in a fierce storm in the early 1990s).

[5] At its eastern end where Beach Road turns into Parnell Rise is a major intersection, over which the railway is carried on a metal viaduct.