Transport

Originally, it was served by the Oxford Branch railway, and had two stations, East Oxford and West Oxford. The line closed in 1959 and was dismantled. Some railway signs and the remnants of railway platforms can still be seen along Oxford Road on the way to Rangiora.

Oxford was linked to Christchurch in 1878 by the narrow-gauge Oxford Branch from Oxford West to Rangiora to meet the broad gauge from Christchurch. With the gauge conversion of 1878, it became easier to transfer passengers and freight from the branch line to Christchurch, though passengers still had to change at Rangiora from the Waipara train to the branch train. The branch stretched from Rangiora through Bennetts Junction (where the Eyreton Branch joined), Oxford and Sheffield. This necessitated a high road-rail bridge across the Waimakariri Gorge.

From Oxford to Sheffield closed in 1931 along with the Eyreton Branch, leaving the Oxford branch as a rural branch line. It lost its passenger service in the 1940s. Due to declining revenue, the branch closed on 31 May 1959 and the track was sold to Scotts Engineering of Christchurch, which used the rails from several branch lines to build farm sheds.

The line was latterly worked by the A and A^B class 4-6-2 and C class 2-6-2 tender locomotives. No diesel locomotives or railcars are known to have used the branch, although thought was given in the 1940s to running a small railcar.

Renovation of Main Street

During 2009, Main Street underwent a major renovation with the road resurfaced, pedestrian refuges in strategic locations and new footpaths with garden beds. The old welcome signs were replaced with new "Experience Oxford" signs at east and west entries. This project was a joint undertaking by the Waimakariri District Council and the Oxford Promotions and Action Committee (OPAC), but they ran out of money and did not finish both sides of the street.^{[citation needed]}

Oxford Forest Conservation Area

The Oxford Forest Conservation Area is a protected forest area of 11,350 ha (28,000 acres) located in foothills near the township. The forest is a remnant of extensive beech and podocarp forests that previously covered inland parts of North Canterbury. It includes walking and mountain biking tracks and is a recreational hunting area.^[9] In 2024, the conservation area was designated by DarkSky International as New Zealand’s second International Dark Sky Park.^[10][11]

Organisations

Oxford has several Churches and community organisations:

• Waimak Bible Chapel (Brethren)
• Oxford Union Church (Presbyterian)
• Oxford Baptist Church
• Sacred Heart Catholic Church
• Seventh Day Adventist Church
• Anglican Church
• Tawera Masonic Lodge
• Oxford Working Men’s Club
• West Oxford Hotel (Public House - The West)

Oxford Benevolent and Improvement League

The OB&I was formed during World War I to provide charitable support to war widows. To raise money, it showed films in the old Oxford Town Hall. It provides charitable support to the citizens of Oxford. Movies are screened in the Town Hall approximately every other Saturday during the winter. The heyday of the OB&I movies was the middle of the 20th century, when three or four films would be shown every week and queues often extended around the building. This was before private car ownership became popular, as the nearest cinema was in Christchurch, some 50 km distant.

The Oxford Town hall, where movies were shown, was closed, along with several other Council operated buildings, in late 2011, as the building was determined to be earthquake prone.^[13] The Oxford Town hall was reopened on 19 February 2015.^[14]

Books about Oxford

There are a number of books about Oxford. Littledene: a New Zealand rural community^[15] published in 1938 is perhaps the most comprehensive; the book is a "sociological study of a typical New Zealand small town", with the fictional name of Littledene, but the research and details of the book all relate to Oxford.