Planning an 8 day trip by train. Need help.

Hi tomlorraine, and welcome to the forum. The timetable will help you to plan all of your trips in detail. Have you already figured in which towns you want to pick as your travel bases? You could consider a few nights in or near Interlaken. From there, you can easily get to Lucerne and the stunning Jungfrau region just south of Interlaken, including Lauterbrunnen. A second base could be Zermatt, although a day trip to Montreux would take quite long. You could travel to Zermatt for a quick sightseeing tour there from Interlaken and then move on to Montreux the same day, but that again would be a very long transfer. You may want to plan an extra overnight stay in either Zermatt or Montreux (and thus use three base towns instead of two) in order to cover your plans in a comfortable way. If you end up in Montreux, you can take the Golden Pass Line back to Lucerne and then return to Zurich.

The daytrips overviews for the Interlaken and Zermatt regions may help you out, as well as browsing this forum for further ideas. Since you plan to travel by train, consider a rail pass. The 8 day Swiss Saver Pass is an economical and very comfortable option for your plans. Alternatively, check the Swiss Saver Flexi Pass.