Over this period, the Fallowfield Loop line suffered from competition from alternative rail services into Manchester, provided by the LNER from Levenshulme and later from the electric trams.

[5] In 1954, Reddish traction maintenance depot was built alongside the Fallowfield line, between Hyde Road and Levenshulme South stations.

Servicing of the Class 506 EMUs was then transferred to Longsight depot, until the Glossop line was converted to 25 kV AC in December 1984.

[7] On 7 May 1964, six years after passenger services had been withdrawn from the line, Wilbraham Road railway station featured in a Granada Television music programme, Blues and Gospel Train.

Granada transformed the disused buildings into "Chorltonville", a fictional Southern U.S.-style station which was the setting for a televised performance by prominent Blues artists of the day, including Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Rev.

[8][9] Shortly before its demise, the Fallowfield Loop line played an important role in the early development of the Manchester Metrolink tram network; in 1987, the stretch of track at Debdale Park, on the site of the former Hyde Road railway station, was used for a public demonstration of Project Light Rail, the working title for the development of a new light rail/tram network in Manchester.

Ticket holders were treated to a short ride on the DLR vehicle along a 1-mile (1.6 km) stretch of track, from just north of the Hyde Road junction to just south of the closed Reddish depot.

The DLR train was specially fitted with a pantograph and powered by overhead line; it was driven manually rather than in automatic mode, which was to be normal practice when in operation on the Docklands system.

It remained disused for many years, due to lack of funding, until July 2011 when a new Metrolink extension was opened to passengers between Deansgate-Castlefield (adjacent to the former Central Station) and St Werburgh's Road.