The cold engines and the missing rails

I'm standing in the yard at night and every engine I've ever run is cold, firebox dark, no steam. I walk the whole length of the track looking for where the rail ends and it just keeps going into fog — no gap, no warning, just nothing left to carry. Used to wake up scared from this one. Tonight I just stood there a while, listening to the metal tick as it cools, and it felt like the yard was finally letting me off my shift.