The sequence of numbers 02376319 acts as a chronological road-map of this episode where each number 1-8 corresponds to a point along the Story Circle, while 0 and 9 are outside it. There are too many consistencies for this not to be the answer
(0) Various vignettes of interactions with Rick. Initially, the episode appears to be a disjointed clip episode a la inter-dimensional cable
(2) But they want something
Rick and Morty remove their disguises (showing us that we are in fact in canonical R&M territory) and reveal they want to get to the engine car. Rick later references this spot on the story circle at 7:00
(3) They enter an unfamiliar situation
The disembowelment of the tickets-please guy / the explosion of the continuity tank / the various non-diegetic narratives. The story is departing from a traditional format and entering into meta territory. I believe this is what is meant by "unfamiliar situation" and is echoed later in the episode (at the second 3). This moment in the episode is also specifically referenced by Rick at 7:00 where he identifies the third car as their current location
?M: what's this
R: going into an act break
(7) Then return to their familiar situation
From the disjointed narrative inside the disemboweled tickets please guy, we are pulled back into familiar Rick and Morty territory: R&M in space-suits, having just killed the suspended tickets-please man, trying to find a way back inside the train
(6) Pay a heavy price for it
In order to get back inside they need to disrupt the "thematic seal", the theme of the episode being meta-narrative. Rick prompts Morty to tell such a story. We get two, both "awful and stupid". The first doesn't break the "thematic seal" because of how well it "mesh[ed] with the theme" or, in other words, failed to depart significantly from the meta theme. The second, the Bechdel-test story, is equally "awful and stupid" but sufficiently unthematic (at least, according to Dan) to break the seal
In the same way that shoe-horning in a scene about women talking to women about women is pandering to a feminist audience, the various narrative fragments pulled from R&M by the Story Lord (Summer goes to college, return of Abradolf Linkler, a Star Wars themed battle with robo-Snuffles, Bird Person and Tammy, Evil Morty) panders to the Rick and Morty fan-base. I believe it is this pandering, this soul-selling that Dan considers to the the "price" one is expected to pay
?M: is any of this cannon
!R: it could've been
(3) They enter an unfamiliar situation
In order to escape from the grasp of the Story Lord, Rick and Morty pray to Jesus for salvation. The incorporation of Bible Story characters and a larger than life ripped Jesus is so incongruent with anything R&M, the Story Lord is foiled
Whereas the initial 3 was unfamiliar in a meta-narrative sense, this scene is unfamiliar to the R&M universe as a whole
(1) Characters in a place of comfort
M: I guess it brought us close together you know? Tested our demons. Made us believe in ourselves more than ever
In a nod to the classic hero returns home, Morty tries to find a moral in the story
R: Yeah, you're right Morty. We got all that meta-cannon shit out of the way and now we can just be ourselves. Now what do you say we bring this train into the station
(9) Beyond
This is where it is revealed that the engine is fake. The control panel is just a sticker. Instead of coming home, we zoom out to reveal that the entire story is just a ploy to sell toy trains
As the story circle has only 8 positions, 9 represents a place beyond the story circle. The final scene points the audience to a website which does not appear to exist. The audience rushes to purchase a toy train that cannot be bought. I believe it is this audience-narrative relationship that becomes a part of the story and the final act of the episode. Rick is messing with us. We are part of the story - duped by a fictional character. This is the 9th position on the story circle