Historically it was more important.
Going back to 1974 when the first daytime through train from London was made possible by completion of electrification of the West Coast Main Line. This service, called the Clansman made three stops between Perth and Inverness - Pitlochry, Newtonmore and Aviemore.
Kingussie was only added the following year, but despite the closeness of the two stations, Newtonmore remained a call until the Clansman declined in importance.
In 1984, BR began the first InterCity 125 service to Inverness, the Highland Chieftan running to/from London King's Cross via Edinburgh and the East Coast Main Line rather than the traditional West Coast route.
This initially made all calls northbound from Perth but only Aviemore, Kingussie and Pitlochry southbound; in 1985 only those 3 were served both ways.
In 1985, the Clansman was downgraded to run to Birmingham, but in 1986 had a brief revival though no longer served Newtonmore.
Throughout this period, the internal Scottish services called at most if not all stations, if any were omitted it tended to be Dalwhinnie and occasionally Dunkeld & Birnam.
Moving into the Multiple Unit era in 1990/1 with Class 158s, a more frequent service saw most ScotRail services call all stations with many continuing to omit Dalwhinnie, but calling patterns started to vary more by the middle of the decade.
Moving to the privatisation era, some of the smaller stations were served more selectively including Newtonmore.
The introduction of the Turbostars in the Winter 2000 timetable saw a number of cuts to calls at smaller stations; the Edinburgh stoppers tended to alternate Dalwhinnie and Newtonmore, while the first service of the day from Glasgow omitted both.
The present timetable can be traced back to the 1990s, only calling patterns have changed and the Glasgow service augmented since 2011 (from 3 to 5 per weekday).
Since the 2011 changes, Newtonmore in particular has tended to lose out with Carrbridge gaining several extra calls since 2000 and Dalwhinnie no longer being omitted as often.
Newtonmore is now the least served - perhaps it is its proximity to Kingussie or (since 1985) the lack of passing loop which precludes a more frequent offering?
It has certainly lost any perceived importance over the last 50 years.
