At the time of opening the station was served by trains that ran between Rochdale and Liverpool. The March 1850 timetable showed 6 up and 5 down services Monday-to-Saturday. On Sundays there were 2 up and 3 down trains. There was also a terminating service from Liverpool on Sundays which arrived at 9.50pm.

The table below shows that by December 1895 there were 24 up and 25 down services Tuesday-to-Friday. An extra up train ran on Mondays. On Saturdays there were 2 extra up services. The Sunday service consisted of 9 up and 10 down trains.

From 17 February 1916 a frequent service of electric trains was introduced between nearby Bury Bolton Street and Manchester Victoria. The intensive service resulted in Bacup - Manchester Victoria trains being diverted to run via the Bury East Fork and Bury Knowsley Street. Although this added considerable mileage to those services it provided Knowsley Street with a frequent direct service to Manchester Victoria. The July 1922 timetable showed 10 trains from and 8 trains to Bacup Monday-to-Friday. On Saturdays there was an extra train to and from Bacup.

The LMS Summer timetable for 1932 showed 26 up and 24 down services Monday-to-Friday. On Saturdays during the summer a number of holiday trains ran to and from Llandudno Junction.

The last LMS summer timetable was published on 16 June 1947. It showed 30 up and 27 down services Monday-to-Friday. Ten of the services in each direction were Bacup line trains. On Saturdays there were 32 up and 30 down trains. Twelve of the up and 9 of the down services were Bacup line trains. The Sunday service consisted of 10 up and 11 down trains. Four of the up services originated from Bacup and 3 of the down services went there.

In the early years of BR passenger services at Bury Knowsley Street did not alter very much.

The 17 September1957 timetable showed 24 up and 22 down trains Monday-to-Friday. On Saturdays there were 26 trains in each direction. Destinations served included Bacup, Blackpool Central, Bolton Trinity Street, Leeds Central, Liverpool Exchange, Rochdale and Southport Chapel Street.

From 1958 DMUs were introduced onto the Bacup – Manchester Victoria services. With the introduction of the DMUs the Bacup service frequency was increased.

The BR[LMR] timetable of 10 September 1962 is shown below. It shows an intensive passenger train service with half hourly departures in both directions for most of the day. Even on Sundays there was a good level of service with 13 up and 12 down trains.

The Reshaping of British Railways (‘Beeching Report’) of 1963 listed the Bacup – Manchester Victoria service for withdrawal. Although it did not list the passenger services on the Bolton – Castleton line for withdrawal but they were in the ‘for modification’ list. On 30 October 1964 BR(LMR) proposed that passenger services between Wigan Wallgate, Bolton, Bury and Rochdale should be withdrawn, and this generated a great deal of local protest. From the start of the winter 1964 timetable Sunday services ceased to operate.

On 14 September 1966 the Minister for Transport refused to sanction withdrawal of the passenger service between Wigan, Bolton, Bury and Rochdale and consented only to the closure of Lostock Junction station between Wigan and Bolton. Under a separate closure proposal, however, the Bacup-Manchester Victoria service ceased to run after 3 December 1966.

Deprived of the Bacup services the summer 1967 timetable showed Bury Knowsley Street as having 23 up departures on Monday-to-Friday and 26 on Saturday; Sunday services operated between 18 June and 17 September only and 11 departures were provided. In the opposite direction there were 23 Monday-to-Friday departures, 28 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. Destinations, in addition to Rochdale and Bolton Trinity Street, were Bury Bolton Street, Blackpool (North and South), Wigan Wallgate, Liverpool Exchange and Southport. Almost all of the services were operated by DMU.

On 12 December 1968 BR(LMR) once again published a proposal to withdraw all passenger services from the line and once again local people vigorously objected.

From 8 September 1969 Bury Knowsley Street became an unstaffed station. On 7 May 1970 the Minister of Transport, Fred Mulley, approved the proposal to withdraw the passenger service between Bolton, Bury and Rochdale. Notice was given that all passenger services would be withdrawn with effect from 5 October 1970.

The summer timetable for 1970 showed 19 up and 17 down services on Monday-to-Saturday. The last trains ran on Saturday 3 October 1970. The last departure from Bury Knowsley Street was the 20.14 service to Rochdale.