Coming up from a underground area I was in a minecart following two loaded minecarts with chests. There was another minecart which contained a green villager heading the opposite direction towards me which caused the 2 loaded minecarts with chests to reverse direction and come back towards me as well. I jumped out of the minecart I was in so I wouldn't be forced back down the line. I went back to find the three minecarts and none of them were there except for the empty cart I'd jumped out of. The minecart with the green villager was gone as well. I looked the entire length of the rail including both ends and did not find them. I saved the game and wrote this report. To my knowledge I'm using the latest version for Windows 10.

I re-entered the game and found the missing mine carts. They were 20+ blocks away from the open end of my track on the surface. How did they travel 20+ blocks when there were no rails present to move them that far?