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Denton railway station together with Reddish South on the Stockport to Stalybridge line are famous for having one train a week (the "Denton flyer") in one direction only. This means they are technically still open.

North of Denton the line divides, with the single track branch to Guide Bridge diverging from the "main line" to Ashton Moss at Denton Junction. The latter route is normally used only by freight and empty stock transfer workings, but is used for diversions if the main line between Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly is closed for engineering work. A further direct line to Droylsden also diverged at Denton Jcn, which at one time was used by direct trains from the East Lancashire Line to London Euston as well as local trains from Manchester Victoria to Stockport. This line was however closed in 1969 and subsequently lifted.

Originally Reddish South station consisted of two island platforms with four tracks. One of these track beds has been sold off, while another has been filled in. The second island is now inaccessible as there are no longer steps down to it. According to the 2007/8 National rail figures, Reddish South had only 47 entries and exits in a 12 month period, making it the UK's least used railway station

Network Rail, in their Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for the North West, were proposing closure of Reddish South and Denton stations and withdrawal of the remaining passenger service. The line itself would remain open for freight and diverted passenger workings. However, a new open-access operator called Grand Union had proposed using the line for services between London and Bradford via the West Coast Main Line, using Guide Bridge station as a stop. This proposal has since been dropped.

The "Denton flyer" is what is known as a "Parliamentary ghost", a train that operates a Parliamentary service - that is to say a token service to a given station, thus maintaining a legal fiction that either the station in question is in fact open, whereas in reality the train operating company in question has almost completely abandoned the station. These services run at all only because rail transport is heavily regulated in the United Kingdom and it is therefore considerably cheaper for a train operating company to run a parliamentary service than it is to go through the full legal process of applying for a station or line to be permanently closed.

For old photographs and a history of Denton station see Link

Friends of Reddish South Station Link have been running a campaign to bring more passenger trains onto this line since 2008. The object of the campaign is to secure a frequent service running between Stockport and Manchester Victoria.

In May 2018 a new timetable was introduced with one train each way on Saturday mornings from Stalybridge to Stockport and back again.

Created: Sun, 31 Oct 2010, Updated: Thu, 4 Oct 2018