The canal made a long descent from its summit pound near Swindon to the River Thames at Abingdon. Drayton Lock, in the parish west of the village, was the final lock in the descent, bringing the canal down to the River Ock floodplain. Traffic on the canal had virtually ceased by 1901 and the route was formally abandoned in 1914. The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust is currently restoring the canal. In June 1840 the Great Western Railway reached Steventon, south of Drayton. Steventon station was the nearest station to Drayton until British Railways closed it in 1964. The nearest main line station is now , about southeast of Drayton. In 1924 Drayton still held traditional celebrations on May Day and performed a Mummers play at Christmas. Drayton has two pubs, the Red Lion (controlled by Greene King Brewery) and the Wheatsheaf. Morland Brewery of Abingdon, which Greene King took over and closed down in 2000, used to control both pubs. Drayton has a community primary school. Since 2000 Drayton has been twinned with Lesparre-Médoc, a commune in the French "département" of Gironde.