Trains to Dartford

Not many train stations can claim to have been instrumental in rock ‘n’ roll history, but on platform 2 at Dartford, there’s a blue plaque marking this station’s very significant claim to fame. On 17 October 1961, two young men who’d been at primary school together bumped into each other on the platform. They went on to rekindle their friendship and become part of one of the biggest bands of all time – the Rolling Stones. They were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Aside from its celebrity connections, Dartford station is important as a major interchange on the south-eastern network, with lines heading from across Kent into London at Charing Cross, Cannon Street via London Bridge and Victoria. Trains first came to Dartford in 1849, and the station has been rebuilt twice since then, with the current rather curvaceous station opening after a £10-million facelift in 2013.