diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG b/railties/CHANGELOG
index 6efcb9f9db..06d1419368 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Allow config.to_prepare to work, make the dispatcher safe to 're require'. [Koz, Nicholas Seckar]
+
 * Fix scaffold_resource generator so it respects the --pretend argument when creating the routes file.  Closes #6852 [fearoffish]
 
 * Fix Webrick Daemon dispatching bug regarding a bad current working directory.  Closes #4899 [Rick Olson]
diff --git a/railties/lib/dispatcher.rb b/railties/lib/dispatcher.rb
index 31eb5d2317..b0ddd29cd3 100644
--- a/railties/lib/dispatcher.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/dispatcher.rb
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class Dispatcher
       end
   end
   
-  self.preparation_callbacks = []
+  self.preparation_callbacks ||= []
   self.preparation_callbacks_run = false
   
 end
diff --git a/railties/lib/initializer.rb b/railties/lib/initializer.rb
index 5b529ffc3d..c7f32d767a 100644
--- a/railties/lib/initializer.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/initializer.rb
@@ -551,6 +551,7 @@ module Rails
     #
     # See Dispatcher#to_prepare.
     def to_prepare(&callback)
+      require 'dispatcher' unless defined?(::Dispatcher)
       Dispatcher.to_prepare(&callback)
     end