Flying in and out of Zurich for 4 days in November. A train ride to Lucerne for the day seems doable. However, is there a panoramic short, worthwhile train ride to other areas we can take leaving in the morning and return at night? We realize time is so limited but are willing to try to explore as much as possible while enjoying the experience of a panoramic train such as the Bernina or Glacier Express. I am having such a tough time finding one.
~Roberta

Try https://www.rigi.ch/

Luzern as a day trip doesn't seem that doable to me

Personally, I'd want more time in Luzerne than a day trip would permit, but it is absolutely doable from Zurich -- regular trains daily from less than an hour to somewhat longer, depending. Check the Swiss rail website, sbb:
https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

I'll leave it to others to suggest the most scenic day trip options from Zurich, except to note that you don't need to take one of the named "special" trains -- as a rule, the regular trains use the same tracks.

November is not the best month for scenic train journeys in Switzerland. It's often cold and foggy and days are extremely short. Most alpine pass roads will be closed.So are many gondolas and mountain hotels.
But within 4 days, you can travel wherever you want in Switzerland.
May be you will have a look at https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/

We very easily did the trip to Luzern from Zurich and connected with the train to Engleberg from which we ascended Mt. Titlis using the three-phase cableway. Actually, we've done the trip two different times.

Thank you for the replies. Train to Lucerne is under an hour which is why I felt it was doable. I read online that the cable cars for Mt. Titlis are usually closed for maintenance the beginning of November. I believe one can only go up half way to Trusbee during this period.

The Titlis gondola will not run from November 2nd until November 13th.
In other periods, they don't run by strong winds (more than 80kms/hr or so).