quesions re: general track building techniques

If anyone can point me to a "tutorial" on track building, please feel free...

I've got very little experience at track building aside from the small HO layout my father and I built when I was a child, and an abandoned attempt at building an N gauge layout when I was in my early 20's, so I have very little knowledge about what's probably really basic stuff to most of you.

I have a few specific questions regarding trackbuilding techniques.

1. people have mentioned soldering track together; I presume this means applying solder to the little connecting clips, not to the track itself? Is it feasible to de-solder the track if I should decide to modify my layout? I've got lots of experience soldering and de-soldering electronic components, but I imagine this is a bit different. How do you protect the plastic part of the track while soldering it?
2. is it feasible to cut flex track? I have jeweler's saws, and small rotary cut-off wheels, which would be the best tool to use?
3. If the track is soldered, are extra connections to the transformer necessary for large layouts? If so, how many feet of track per connection? I recall that my N-gauge layout needed an extra set of wires running to the opposite side of the track to keep the train from slowing down, but none of the track joints were soldered.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

I presume that you mean track laying rather than track building. If you mean track building the Fast Track web site has dozens of instructional videos.

Track laying is a simpler proposition.
To answer your specific questions.
There are those for and against soldering rail joiners. Personally I'm for, where nesscessary. Where track joins come close to curves I've found it advantagous to solder but as the long as the joiner is a good fit you can get by without. If you plan to lift the track at a later date don't solder as unsoldering can play havoc with the plastic ties. A heat sink on the rail as you solder will help prevent melting.

A fine bladed saw or cut off disc can be used but the best thing is a set of rail nipper like those made by Xuron

The number of electrical connections is dependant on track length, weather you want "cab control" or your'e planning on DCC. A good book on model railroad electrics would be invaluable to make those choices. Kalmbach do quite a good one for DC and DCC

HTH

Thanks for the reply. Yes, track laying is what I'm asking about.

So, my intuition seems to be pretty close regarding the subjects I've asked about.
Obviously, the best electrical connection and long-term reliability would be if the track sections are soldered, but that could inhibit future re-use of track joined in this manner.

I'll probably come up with other questions. For now, the "buiding" part of it is going to be figuring out how to create a layout around my home-office desk that allows me to continue using it as a desk while enjoying watching this little train moving around a reasonably interesting arrangement of track.