in England) and of a gasworks which was relocated to the west. The station buildings, which were temporary wooden structures, were accessed by an inclined esplanade winding to the right from Gloucester Street (now Whitworth Street West) to reach their north front. There was a single platform on the north side of the line through to Manchester London Road (now Manchester Picadilly) and a second platform on a west-facing siding. To allow for extra trains in connection with the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857, extra platforms and sidings were built, but removed afterwards. A meeting of MSJAR contract ticket holders in 1863 included in its list of complaints the want of punctuality "especially as at Oxford Road station there is only one platform used for both passengers and milk". From 1854 onwards, Oxford Road served as the terminus for a service to Liverpool, independent of the London and North Western Railway(LNWR) (one of the joint owners of MSJAR). The rail service went no further than Garston, with the final leg of the journey being made by steamer, but it alerted the LNWR to the possible use of the MSJAR by its co-owner, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) to reach areas west of Manchester. Consequently, in 1857, when the MSJAR began (the decision being taken on the casting vote of the board's chairman, by rotation) running an Oxford Road - London Road service, the LNWR took strenuous measures to discourage it. Every train of the service was flagged down just short of the London Road platform and not allowed to proceed further, passengers being told they were liable to prosecution for trespass if they got out. Goods going beyond the MSJAR were not handled at Oxford Road between March and July 1865 whilst some enlargement (and widening) work was carried out. The MS&LR pressed ahead with the joint lines to give it direct and independent rail access to Liverpool, but the LNWR blocked any matching improvement to the MSJAR and to Oxford Road, only offering to let these go ahead when the scheme for Manchester Central station was brought forward. To defeat the Bill for the scheme, the LNWR then promised to cooperate with the MS&LR in widening the MSJAR and enlarging Oxford Road. However, Edward Watkin, chairman of the MS&LR, later complained that the LNWR had ensured no improvement took place before the MS&LR had its route