Oxford- Banbury Stopping Services after September 2017

[whole diary]

[NickBucks]

Hello
I am planning to walk the Oxford Canal this summer / autumn on Sundays. I see from the timetable at Tackley station that there will be no stopping services on the line from Oxford to Banbury and return after September 17th 2017. This is confirmed by the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) timetable but provides no explanation. Does anyone know if this is permanent or a temporary change due to engineering work ? GWR used to make much of this line and did offer an Oxford Canal rover (posters to this effect still on display at Tackley)  but there is no longer any reference to this type of ticket I can find on the GWR website. Thank you. 

[grahame]

Hello
I am planning to walk the Oxford Canal this summer / autumn on Sundays. I see from the timetable at Tackley station that there will be no stopping services on the line from Oxford to Banbury and return after September 17th 2017. This is confirmed by the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) timetable but provides no explanation. Does anyone know if this is permanent or a temporary change due to engineering work ? GWR used to make much of this line and did offer an Oxford Canal rover (posters to this effect still on display at Tackley)  but there is no longer any reference to this type of ticket I can find on the GWR website. Thank you. 

Welcome to the forum ... good question.   I'm sure our member ChrisB who's from around those parts will be able to fill you in on the whys and wherefores.

[IndustryInsider]

Sunday services have only ever run during the summer on this route (three each way), so they will cease until next May after September.

Having walked the entire length (not in one go) over the years it is a really pleasant walk, although Kings Sutton station is quite a detour away from the canal, Tackley and Heyford are well positioned, Heyford especially.

[Richard Fairhurst]

And in a rather nice canal connection, the summer Sunday services were for a while underwritten by Oxfordshire Narrowboats at Lower Heyford: http://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/news/train-service-back-on-line-thanks-to-businessman-1-588155

Chiltern do of course operate services from King's Sutton. There's also the Stagecoach S4 bus from Oxford-Banbury, which runs every few hours on Sunday: it doesn't directly call by the canal, but it's only a short walk from the towpath to (say) Steeple Aston.

[NickBucks]

Thank you both for your most helpful responses.  Regards