diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index d383239142..46bd45b5c2 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,23 @@
+1.5.3-RC1 (2015-11-01)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+- Fix: When selecting a refit cargo for orders, do not check whether the vehicle is in a depot or station, and do not ask whether the vehicle currently allows station-refitting. Also hide the refit cost for orders, it is not predictable (r27428)
+- Fix: Use the NewGRF railtype sorting order in the infrastructure window (r27427)
+- Fix: Crash when switching to or taking over companies, when an order window of a vehicle of the new company was opened. Now close those windows [FS#5842] (r27425)
+- Fix: Towns did not connect roads to existing roads, unless they had only a single roadbit. Otoh, towns also tried to connect to single roadbit tiles such as tunnels and depots, even though they were not connectable in the direction of interest [FS#6374] (r27424)
+- Fix: When towns expanded single-bit roadtiles using a grid-layout, they used the layout position of the neighbouring tile (r27423)
+- Fix: Aircraft picked the wrong airport entry point, if airports were rotated by 180 degree [FS#6341] (r27422)
+- Fix: Consider text and icon sizes when drawing the client list [FS#6265] (r27421)
+- Fix: GrowTownAtRoad sometimes returned false, even when a house was built [FS#6362] (r27420)
+- Fix: CmdSellRailWagon did not revert all actions properly when no orderlist could be allocated [FS#6369] (r27419)
+- Fix: Desync due to incorrect storage of segments with different railtype in the YAPF cache [FS#6329] [FS#6379] (r27418)
+- Fix: When a dedicated server was paused with no clients, the master server advertisement interval was slowed, causing deadvertisement of the server [FS#6368] (r27400)
+- Fix: [Makefile] Game script directory and compat*.nut were never installed on *nix (r27399)
+- Fix: There are two different availability conditions for fdatasync in the manpage. Use them both, since at least on some MinGW versions one is not enough (r27389)
+- Fix: win32 sound driver failed to report errors (r27383)
+- Fix: Clickareas in settings tree were misaligned when the filter warning was displayed, if the setting height was defined by the icons instead of the font [FS#6358] (r27366)
+- Fix: Center settings filter warning also vertically, and also in case of multiple lines (r27365)
+
+
 1.5.2 (2015-09-01)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (None)
diff --git a/known-bugs.txt b/known-bugs.txt
index 2d179d7c56..35d019e14f 100644
--- a/known-bugs.txt
+++ b/known-bugs.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 OpenTTD's known bugs
-Last updated:    2015-09-01
-Release version: 1.5.2
+Last updated:    2015-11-01
+Release version: 1.5.3
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
diff --git a/os/debian/changelog b/os/debian/changelog
index d91e75dc9c..1a47092d8c 100644
--- a/os/debian/changelog
+++ b/os/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+openttd (1.5.3~RC1-0) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * New upstream release 1.5.3-RC1
+
+ -- OpenTTD <info@openttd.org>  Sun, 01 Nov 2015 14:00:00 +0100
+
 openttd (1.5.2-0) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * New upstream release 1.5.2
diff --git a/os/windows/installer/install.nsi b/os/windows/installer/install.nsi
index e1442fc462..058fe305b2 100644
--- a/os/windows/installer/install.nsi
+++ b/os/windows/installer/install.nsi
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 # Version numbers to update
 !define APPV_MAJOR 1
 !define APPV_MINOR 5
-!define APPV_MAINT 2
-!define APPV_BUILD 1
-!define APPV_EXTRA ""
+!define APPV_MAINT 3
+!define APPV_BUILD 0
+!define APPV_EXTRA "-RC1"
 
 !define APPNAME "OpenTTD"   ; Define application name
 !define APPVERSION "${APPV_MAJOR}.${APPV_MINOR}.${APPV_MAINT}${APPV_EXTRA}"  ; Define application version
diff --git a/readme.txt b/readme.txt
index aa3d11cc8f..4887592a1e 100644
--- a/readme.txt
+++ b/readme.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Last updated:    2015-09-01
-Release version: 1.5.2
+Last updated:    2015-11-01
+Release version: 1.5.3-RC1
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
diff --git a/src/script/api/ai_changelog.hpp b/src/script/api/ai_changelog.hpp
index 1c0b692b86..47352cb97a 100644
--- a/src/script/api/ai_changelog.hpp
+++ b/src/script/api/ai_changelog.hpp
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
  * functions may still be available if you return an older API version
  * in GetAPIVersion() in info.nut.
  *
+ * \b 1.5.3
+ *
+ * No changes
+ *
  * \b 1.5.2
  *
  * No changes
diff --git a/src/script/api/game_changelog.hpp b/src/script/api/game_changelog.hpp
index c44bfddda7..0218f9734f 100644
--- a/src/script/api/game_changelog.hpp
+++ b/src/script/api/game_changelog.hpp
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
  * functions may still be available if you return an older API version
  * in GetAPIVersion() in info.nut.
  *
+ * \b 1.5.3
+ *
+ * No changes
+ *
  * \b 1.5.2
  *
  * No changes