The residents claim the huge swathe of felling is " wholesale destruction of a wonderful natural habitat" and will destroy a whole generation of birds, bats and other wildlife at the height of the breeding season.
At Monday's meeting of Blackshaw Parish Council packed with more than 30 angry residents it was agreed to try and persuade Network Rail to think again.
They plan to contact Sir Ian McAllister, chairman of Network Rail, and seek help from Calder Valley MP Chris McCafferty who criticised a similar exercise in February at Eastwood. Local Calderdale councillor Janet Battye is also seeking support from Calderdale Council's Community Services Scrutiny Panel to see what action the district authority can take to stop or limit Network Rail and other utility companies from felling trees. She and fellow local councillor Nader Fekri are also organising a residents' meeting at Riverside School next Thursday (May 22) at 7.30 pm.
Network Rail, who maintain the line, are planning to carry out the work overnight on Sunday June 1 and 8 and midweek Tuesday June 3 to Friday June 6.
A six-metre area either side of the track will be cleared using chainsaws and plant machinery.
Keith Lumley, a spokesman for Network Rail, said the work was necessary for safety reasons.
"There are number of reasons for doing it. One is to prevent leaves on the line, which can cause trains to slip and slide.
"Another is to ensure signals can be seen properly.
"We also have to ensure that staff working on the track have a safe place to get out of the way of on-coming trains.
"We may take down healthy trees if they are in the six metre margin. Otherwise, we will only remove trees that are dead, diseased or dangerous."
He also said no protected wildlife species are affected. If birds are discovered nesting in the trees, they will remain untouched.
Residents were notified of the work by letter. In it, community relations manager Sarah McArdle, said: "We are fully aware of the sensitivity of feeling that our vegetation management activities can cause and we do not take our responsibilities lightly."
"A full ecology survey has been carried out on the site and we have put in necessary controls to enusre that our works will not impact on the wildlife present. Furthermore daily inspections of the site will be undertaken prior to the night work and should a nest be indentified an exclusion zone will be implemented, returning to the area to complete the work once the nest has been vacated.
"In addition an environmental impact survey has also been carried out and it is proposed that a screen of trees, provided they pose no safety risk and are healthy, will be left on both sides of the embankment to minimise the impact to residents."
But residents at Monday's meeting said the Eastwood felling had reduced the railway embankment to an environmental desert.
Clerk Mr Lars Hansen said: "Having witnessed the wholesale destruction in Eastwood it is hard to imagine the contactor being able or willing to display environmental sensitivity in Charlestown.
"Residents and councillors recognised that dead, dying or diseased trees could cause a hazard to the railway but what is planned is wholesale destruction of this wonderful habitat which is rich in birds, bats, deer, hares and every imaginable animal that makes the Calder Valley the beautiful gem that it is today.
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He added : "We are only a small parish but as a community working together we will do everything we can to stop this mindless vandalism."
Resident Mrs Elise Smith said: "It seems that the Network Rail survey had missed the bat roost in Charlestown.
"Disturbing a bat roost physically or by noise is an arrestable criminal offence."
Mrs Smith added : There is also a lot of other wildlife in the area as well. Quite how Network Rail will be able to meet their claim to 'ensure that the works will not impact on the wildlife present' is unclear.
"There is also a healthy growth of bluebells -an increasingly threatened species- on the embankment which will be buried under the proposed carpet of wood chippings and it is unlikely they will be able to grow back through it."
Councillor Battye said many local people have been infuriated to receive letters from Network Rail informing them, at short notice, that they intend to cut down more trees.
"By a concerted effort by local residents, supported by council officers and our MP, we've managed to get the extent of the felling reduced and delayed until June, after the bird nesting season ends. But it simply isn't right that Network Rail can do this without requiring any permission, added Coun Battye
"And what's more, it also seems that their ecological survey – paid for by public money – isn't available to the public even under the provision of Freedom of Information."
Councillor Battye is asking Calderdale Council's Community Services Scrutiny Panel – whose responsibilities include the countryside – to examine the issues surrounding this to see what action the Council can take to stop or limit Network Rail and other utility companies from felling trees.
Angus Mitchell, 43, has complained to Network Rail in the past.
He said: "There's woodland management, which is tree care, and then there is complete deforestation like in this case. They have taken everything down.
"I saw the oaks they took down last time and there was nothing wrong with them.
"What I would like to see happen is trimming along the line."