Maidstone branch serving the paper mills at Tovil. The Medway Valley Walk between Tonbridge and Gillingham passes through the town, following the banks of the river. Between 1928 and 1967, Maidstone had a small trolleybus network. The system had two main routes from the High Street, one along Tonbridge Road to a terminus near the "Bull Inn" at Barming and the other along Loose Road and Sutton Road to Park Wood, with a spur along to Loose village. The town is served by 15 secondary schools, 23 primary schools, and two special schools. Non-selective secondary schools include Cornwallis Academy, Maplesden Noakes,
Maidstone was reported at the time that inhabitants were bitterly opposed to the railway, the mayor suggesting that "Maidstone will be ruined as a commercial town". It was said that wharfingers and corn and coal merchants would be hardest hit. In 1842, the South Eastern Railway, to reach the Channel ports of Folkestone and Dover, put its main line through Tonbridge and Ashford, some to the south. A station named Maidstone Road was built in an isolated spot called Paddock Wood, from where coaches were run to the county town. Two years later a branch line was built to Maidstone. In