The scarcity of services on the line has led to it becoming popular with rail enthusiasts, as well as real ale connoisseurs visiting the station buffet at Stalybridge.

[5][6] Network Rail, in their Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for the North West, proposed closure of Reddish South and Denton stations and withdrawal of the remaining passenger service.

[7] The threat was withdrawn in May 2007, possibly temporarily,[8] when GMPTE suggested it was to support three trains per hour between Stockport and Manchester Victoria.

These proposals were withdrawn in August 2008, with a service later introduced from Bradford Interchange to London King's Cross via the East Coast Main Line instead.

Before May 2018, the service operated in one direction only, on a Friday morning, leaving Stockport at 09:22 and arriving in Stalybridge at 09:42 (with train reporting number 2J45).

[10] In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to pay for a feasibility study into reinstating services on the Stockport to Ashton via Denton Junction section of the line.

[11] In October 2021, it was announced by the UK government that a further bid to the third round of the Restoring Your Railway fund was successful, seeing up to £50,000 contributed towards developing early stage proposals.