Hi Snafu,

We designed working with flex as it is to make it a bit easier.
The flex turns red if you stretch it too far to warn you.

If you hover a piece of track, you can see its actual length in the status bar at the bottom of the window.
Also, the list of materials (View/List of Materials) shows you all the individual pieces of flex used, as well as the total length, giving you an idea how much to buy. If you're like me, you'll need to buy a bit more

Of course, when you're laying the real flextrack, you need to cut it.

For the other elements: you cannot cut of a bit off of a piece of ordinary track in the program. Of course, you can do that with the real track. With some track it's easy (Atlas, RocoLine), with other track it's more difficult (Bachmann, Kato Unitrack, Roco geoLine).
This can not yet be simulated in AnyRail. If you feel any need for that, please let us know!

David.