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Further to the above post, here's a real-world example of saggy signals. We used to have a job which didn't go all the way to the sea, but turned a Down train back towards London in the peak. The reversing movement was controlled by a semaphore shunt signal, one of only 2 on the whole network as everything else has been modernised to LED signals.
Anyhow, this signal was cable operated by a run of about 500 yards, and it didn't like the hot or the cold. Consequently when you were sat in the Down platform waiting for the cattle to get off, the bobby might sometimes call you and tell you to contact him/her on the radio once you'd gone beyond the shunt signal and changed ends to do the shunt.
And sure enough when you'd got to the other cab you would see that the dod (shunt signal) was half way between On (horizontal) and Off (45* up). Because this was incorrectly showing the bobby was required to assure you that the points were set correctly into the Up platform and the signal was Off, even if it didn't look like it.
It's that old chestnut. Provided that you had come to a clear understanding, you can still work with poorly performing gear (and there's plenty of that around).
BW
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