These details about trade on the Ashton Canal were obtained from original canal tally sheets. The whereabouts of these sheets, or even if they still exist, is unknown.

The major carrier mentioned in the tally sheets was John Hall & Sons (Note 1) and others were T Hassall, J Roscoe & Company Ltd (Note 2), West Leigh Carrying Company, Manchester Ship Canal Company, E J Schofield and Simpson Davies & Son. Cargoes of coal, shale, soda ash, lime ash, acid, cullet, cotton, wheat, tea and timber were mainly short hauled from the Rochdale Canal in Manchester to various wharfs on the Ashton Canal as well as to Marple and New Mills on the Peak Forest Canal. Totals for the four years covered were:

By far, the major traffic was coal, which accounted for around 25% of total tonnage. This was mainly carried from Bradford Colliery to unidentified locations on the Rochdale Canal, although considerable quantities were also carried to Piercy Street (Note 3), Edge Lane (Note 4) and Hollins Mill at Marple (Note 5). Over the period, Hollins Mill also took delivery of 1,200 tons of raw cotton from Manchester Docks via the Rochdale Canal.

Edge Lane also took delivery of large quantities of soda ash, shale and lime ash. The soda ash would be destined for some of the many chemical works in the Clayton area and it is likely that the shale and lime ash went to a road-stone works. In 1934, 4,390 tons of coal out of a total of 5,508 tons was consigned to Edge Lane and, curiously, most of this came by way of the Rochdale Canal and not, as might be expected, from the nearby Bradford Colliery.

Timber was mainly delivered to Southern's Timber Yard (Note 6) at Piccadilly, Manchester, although in 1932, 10 tons was delivered to an unidentified location at Reddish on the Stockport Branch Canal.

In 1934, T Hassall carried some 1,634 tons of salt to an unidentified destination simply recorded as a warehouse, while cargo described as shale and dirt (Note 7) was sent from the Bradford Private Branch to an unidentified location on the Stockport Branch Canal. Lastly, 297 tons of cullet (Note 8) was carried from Whittles Croft Wharf (Note 9), Piccadilly, Manchester, to New Mills.

These glimpses of traffic on the Ashton Canal and its branches, at a time when its commercial life was rapidly drawing to a close are tantalisingly brief but, nevertheless, they do provide an insight into what it must have been like in more halcyon days.

The maximum tonnage carried on the Ashton Canal, including its branches, was 514,241 tons and this occurred in 1838. By 1905 this had dwindled by around 53% to 241,176 tons. The inexorable reduction in traffic on the branches of the Ashton Canal was echoed on the comparatively short main line. Worsening maintenance standards, the ever-widening railway network, the development of road transport and the payment of uneconomical wages all had an effect. Unfortunately, there is a gap in the records between 1905 and 1930 to show the pattern of decline over that tumultuous period.

Later, tonnages carried on the Ashton, Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canals (collectively known as the Western Canal) were no longer provided separately, possibly in an attempt to mask the parlous situation that any one canal was actually in. The combined tonnages carried on the three canals for the period 1933 to 1957 are reproduced below: