The first station building at Auckland stood approximately where the large new outwards goods shed now stands on Breakwater Road. The subsequent station site which has served the city for many years was then water, and Customs Street formed the water front.

The first railway yard paralleled Beach Road, its outlet being along an embankment crossing Mechanic's Bay. In addition to the usual goods shed and engine depot the yard contained railway workshop and stores.

The year 1879 saw large reclamation works in hand at Auckland. These works were for the purpose of providing additional station accommodation, and to further relieve congestion in the yard, a site was purchased at Newmarket for workshops and stores. With the removal of these buildings to Newmarket the accommodation in Auckland yard was gradually improved until such time as the reclamation work permitted the removal of the passenger station to the Queen Street site. The new station building on this site was completed in November, 1885, and the station yard was finished about the same time. The station was officially opened for public traffic on 30th November, 1885, almost exactly 45 years ago. The intervening years have seen wonderful growth in the city and port of Auckland, page 35 and in the increased settlement and productivity of the Auckland province. In this development the railways have assisted materially.