The line brought an economic upswing to the region because of the availability of goods traffic, and the iron industry particularly profited from the introduction of rail transport.
Passenger traffic never achieved great importance, since the larger places were convenient off the distance such as Aflenz or Turnau and also the proposed connection to Mariazell was never realised.
In the 1960s the railway changed over to diesel traction, modern wagons were procured, and the track upgraded to cope with the increased loads.
The Thörlerbahn Association, which was established to protect this section from demolition, in 1991 proposed a tourist operation with borrowed vehicles.
This offer was accepted, so in the following years a promising museum course project was developed: passenger vehicles were built based on historical designs on goods wagons chassis and the last original steam engine, No.