5 Pounds - Elizabeth II Train Crossing the Viaduct

Alderney, a dependency of the Bailiwick of Guernsey with a population under 2,500, has issued commemorative coinage since 1989 under royal prerogative — not through Westminster — giving the island unusual latitude to select its own subjects. This piece was part of a broader series marking the 200th anniversary of steam locomotion, tied to the bicentennial of Richard Trevithick's 1804 Penydarren run, the first recorded journey by a steam-powered vehicle on rails.

Trevithick's engine hauled ten tons of iron nearly ten miles in South Wales, winning a bet and changing industrial transport permanently. He died in poverty in 1833.