Editing Cotswold Line (section)

====Oxford to Charlbury====
After departing Oxford station, the Cotswold Line shares track with the [[Cherwell Valley Line]] to [[Banbury railway station|Banbury]]. About {{convert|220|yd|m}} north of the station, the line crosses the [[Sheepwash Channel]] which links the [[Castle Mill Stream]] and [[Oxford Canal]] with the [[River Thames]].<ref name="canalplan">{{cite web| url=http://canalplan.org.uk/waterway/edm8| title=River Thames (Sheepwash Channel)| website=CanalPlanAC| location=UK| access-date=15 September 2012}}</ref> Immediately east of the current line is the [[Rewley Road Swing Bridge]] over the channel which used to carry the [[London and North Western Railway]]'s (LNWR) [[Buckinghamshire Railway]] line to its terminus at [[Oxford Rewley Road railway station|Oxford Rewley Road]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.movablebridges.org.uk/BridgePage.asp?BridgeNumber=269| title=Sheepwash Channel – Oxford Canal /River Thames| website=Movable Bridges in the British Isles| location=UK| access-date=15 September 2012}}</ref> The swing bridge is a [[listed building]]. The Rewley Road station building has been dismantled and re-erected at [[Buckinghamshire Railway Centre]]. The built up area east of the railway, visible across the Oxford Canal, is [[Jericho, Oxford|Jericho]], a district which originated as lodgings outside the city walls where travellers could rest if they arrived after the gates were locked. The [[Eagle Ironworks, Oxford|Eagle Ironworks]] of William Lucy & Co. was near the first road bridge over the track on [[Walton Well Road]].

After the bridge, the open area to the left is [[Port Meadow]], a [[water meadow]] bordering the Thames with a [[Bronze Age]] [[round barrow]]. The former LNWR Buckinghamshire Railway branches away to the north east. The section from Oxford to Bicester has been connected to the Chiltern Main Line by a new chord at Bicester, enabling through trains from Oxford to [[Marylebone railway station|London Marylebone]] to run from September 2015. Proposals exist for re-opening the whole line and are included in the Draft Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy, but there are many planning and funding matters to be resolved.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.goem.gov.uk/goem/psc/suscom/mksm/| title=Draft Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050423213346/http://www.goem.gov.uk/goem/psc/suscom/mksm/| archive-date=23 April 2005}}</ref>

The line passes through [[Wolvercote]]. To the west, Lower Wolvercote was a centre for paper making, mainly for the [[Oxford University Press]] from the 17th century until 1998 and is the site of [[Godstow|Godstow Abbey]], a [[Order of Saint Benedict|Benedictine]] convent founded in the 12th century. The line passes under the viaduct carrying the [[A34 road (England)|A34]] Oxford Western Bypass and {{convert|100|yd}} further under the [[A40 road]] linking London and [[Fishguard]].
[[File:Wolvercote Jnc.jpg|thumb|An HST leaving the Cotswold Line at Wolvercot Junction, about {{convert|3|mi|0}} north of Oxford]]

The line now turns west; here the former [[Buckinghamshire Junction Railway]] link with the Buckinghamshire Railway used to converge from the east. About {{convert|4|mi}} after Oxford station, {{rws|Yarnton}} station was in the short stretch between here and where the [[Witney Railway]] diverged to the south-west.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.martin.loader.btinternet.co.uk/Yarnton_Junction.htm |title=Yarnton Junction |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040722181033/http://www.martin.loader.btinternet.co.uk/Yarnton_Junction.htm |archive-date=22 July 2004 }}</ref> So far, the line has been close to the River Thames but the river now swings away to the south through a landscape dotted with gravel pits. The line now climbs the valley of the [[River Evenlode]] repeatedly crossing and re-crossing the river. {{rws|Hanborough}} station serves the villages of [[Long Hanborough]], [[Church Hanborough]], [[Freeland, Oxfordshire|Freeland]] and [[Bladon]]. The [[Oxford Bus Museum]] is next to Hanborough station.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.oxfordbusmuseum.org.uk| website=Oxford Bus Museum| title=Home}}</ref>

From Hanborough the line enters the Cotswold [[Cotswolds AONB|Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty]] and {{convert|1|mi}} beyond Hanborough is {{rws|Combe}} station. Building the line through Combe was difficult with several deep cuttings, four crossings of the Evenlode, and the diversion of a length of the river. To the south, just after the third river crossing are the remains of [[North Leigh Roman Villa]]. About {{convert|1|mi}} beyond the villa the line crosses the course of [[Akeman Street]] [[Roman road]]. The [[Oxfordshire Way]] [[long-distance footpath]] follows Akeman Street from the north east to a point about {{convert|0.6|mi|0}} north of the railway before turning to run through [[Stonesfield]] and meet the line at Charlbury station. The next station is {{rws|Finstock}}. Between Finstock and Charlbury the [[Medieval deer park|deer park]] to the west of the line is [[Cornbury Park]], original venue for the [[Cornbury Music Festival]], which has now been replaced by the Wilderness Festival. The woodlands south west of the park are the remains of [[Wychwood Forest]] named after the [[Hwicce]], one of the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] peoples of Britain. Charlbury station is the start of the redoubled track and is first stop for faster trains over the line and retains its original Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway clapperboard building. [[Peter Parker (British businessman)|Sir Peter Parker]] lived nearby at [[Minster Lovell]] and was a regular user of Charlbury station while chairman of the [[British Railways Board]] (1976 to 1983). The patronage of the head of the organisation may have helped to save the line at a time when the Serpell Report was calling for more rail closures.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docSummary.php?docID=29| title=Railway Finances – Report of a Committee chaired by Sir David Serpell KCB CMG OBE| website=Railways Archive}}</ref> This is section of track has a maximum speed of {{convert|100|mph|abbr=on}}<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/baseline%20capability/track%20and%20route%20mileage,%20permissible%20line%20speeds/table%20a_track_and_route%20miles_linespeed_western%20route.pdf| title=Baseline Capacity – Western| date=31 March 2009| access-date=28 August 2014| website=Network Rail| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014210923/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/baseline%20capability/track%20and%20route%20mileage,%20permissible%20line%20speeds/table%20a_track_and_route%20miles_linespeed_western%20route.pdf| archive-date=14 October 2013| url-status=dead}}</ref>