I knew I'd have to do this one sooner or later... Today the train station has acquired a number of features it didn't use to have when I was a boy in PG (above, the 1970s). Compare with below:

For me the story of this little train station starts as we were taken by Auntie Olive down Aldermans Hill to Hazelwood Lane school, and when, crossing over the bridge, I had to be lifted up to see beyond the parapet to the Southern part of the railway vanishing far away in the distance:

And there was a special thrill when an invisible train was heard rumbling below: I had to rush and see it, and when I became older to peep above the wall, I remember feeling the victory of the thing! Now you probably know that this station is an old one, dating back to 1870, as testifies this indication on the iron girder of the bridge, visible from the platforms:

The author Stevie Smith speaks about the station in "Syler's Green", a lightly fictionalised account of her early life in Palmer's Green: "The railway station at Syler's Green bears the date of the Franco-Prussian war - 1870, and has the endearing style of its period, the wood lace frill to the canopy over the platform, the Swiss Chalet appearance of the very sooty-brick station.' (check here - sorry the link has now gone dead)

Here are some older pictures, dating back to the beginning of the XXth century:

It's nice because you can see the horse-drawn bus waiting for the travellers! Originally this station was called Palmers Green & Southgate:

Above, one can see how far the platform extended, much further than it does today. Here's another view with an old steam engine waiting for departure:

Here are a couple of tickets salvaged from somewhere on the net:

I'm not sure, but I'd say rather yes, whether such tickets would have been like those I had to have to go with Mark to Enfield Chase, that year when we took the train in the morning to go to St Iggs (check here). Unfortunately, we didn't take a pic of our trips. So Here's Hélène instead (1978, the year she spent in England at Grandma's)!

Oh, and while looking for pictures I stumbled upon this one: what exactly do you think he was doing up there? Perhaps he wanted to jump on top of the next train, as in James Bond movies...

Here's a recently found map of the tracks layout in the 1930s (curtesy here)

Some more pictures to complete the impression:

And a close-up:

You can see the semaphore on this picture (above, on the bridge) and below, its remains:

Then there's this indication of The Air Raid Precaution Staff Shelter, still visible on the London-bound platform:

An addition by Auntie Jo dated June 28th 2023 (here):

"From September 1959 to April 1960, I traveled from Palmers Green station to the college in Moorgate for a post-grad secretarial course. I walked from Derwent Road where I had lived since I was 2 years old. Also when we were much younger we four girls took the train the other way to Cuffley where we picnicked and played in the woods while our stepmother visited her brother in a home further on. Wonderful days out. All covered now with houses of course."