Train from Edinburgh to Oxford on a Sunday

Well, if you want to rent a car, it's easy to do. I've rented before with both Arnold Clark, which has locations in London and Birmingham (sometimes using Celtic Legend as a broker) and AutoEurope, but there are others, including local companies. In Oxford, you can rent from Enterprise, Europcar and as I mentioned AutoEurope, which is a consolidator.

But it depends on where you are are going. I'm not sure what you mean when you ask if there is another way. Are you talking about alternatives to renting a car? Is so, it would be helpful to know where you plan to travel to and what public transportation is available.

which direction will you be heading off from Oxford? Do you know that Oxford has a large zero pollution zone and the cost is high and parking hard? (I am there often).

If you are at Birmingham, getting the car at Birmingham airport, which has a linked station, is much easier than in the city.

If you drive in London there is a very expensive 364 day a year Congestion Zone which is larger than it used to be.

we are currently looking at airbnb's in Oxford and Oxfordshire area. It looks like a lot of car rental businesses are closed on Sundays. I have looked at connections in Birmingham and London. Any other cities that have a car rental stand at the local train station open on a Sunday?

When I refer to London, I mean Heathrow. Sorry I was not specific.

It looks like Enterprise is open in the late morning to afternoon on Sundays. https://www.enterprise.co.uk/en/car-hire-locations/uk/oxford-botley-u2q2.html

And most other places will open for you on Sunday if needed, although there may be an extra charge. So calculate whether that is worth it, or whether it would be easier to get a taxi to your Airbnb, and then come in the next day to pick up the rental car.

Or you could just rent a car at Heathrow and drive up to Oxford.

the problem is that the journey starts in Edinburgh, and the Sunday problem.

If your goal is Oxford or some unnamed part of Oxfordshire - a fairly large area and we have no idea of your goals there, the taking the West Coast line to Birmingham New Street and picking up the Cross Country service to Oxford is the most direct route. Therefore going one more stop on the train you were on to Birmingham International for the airport and collecting a car there makes sense.

As does getting one in Oxford except the Botley Road road closure right at Oxford station may not be finished and driving in that part of Oxford is very difficult with the only through road closed. It was to reopen at the end of last year but the engineers found that they oopsied and also found heritage, so they had to take it all out and start once again to the consternation of locals (and me). So be sure where you are going, which side of the closure it is relative to the car hire firms.

Going all the way around via the East Coast Main Line into Kings Cross, then across town and all the way west to Heathrow to get a car to drive all the way north again seems unproductive to me.

Going all the way around via the East Coast Main Line into Kings Cross and then across town to Paddington (for GWR) or Marylebone (for Chiltern Trains) and then all the way west and back north seems inefficient and clumsy to me.

A bit more information on your plans in general would help tremendously. What you will do with the car after Oxford, for example.

By the way, do you know that Oxford is absolutely crawling with buses of different operators who are always trying to be better than the other guy? And that if you arrive at Blenheim Palace by bus (very easy from Oxford) you get a significant discount?

And finally - nobody knows which days in July there might be train strikes, you won't know until 2 or 3 weeks away, so it is always best to keep a plan B in your pocket until these very long running disputes are put to bed.