diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/matrix/AxisList.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/matrix/AxisList.java
index ab2551ac661c69a2756de26af6132ee682dc0ad1..fcda17d6128c847d9a214269bf6abe008cf4aea5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/matrix/AxisList.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/matrix/AxisList.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import com.thoughtworks.xstream.alias.CannotResolveClassException;
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.Converter;
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.MarshallingContext;
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.UnmarshallingContext;
+import com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.reflection.SerializableConverter;
+import com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.reflection.ReflectionProvider;
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.collections.AbstractCollectionConverter;
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.HierarchicalStreamReader;
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.HierarchicalStreamWriter;
@@ -87,8 +89,10 @@ public class AxisList extends ArrayList<Axis> {
      * {@link Converter} implementation for XStream.
      */
     public static final class ConverterImpl extends AbstractCollectionConverter {
-        public ConverterImpl(Mapper mapper) {
+        private final SerializableConverter sc;
+        public ConverterImpl(Mapper mapper, ReflectionProvider reflectionProvider) {
             super(mapper);
+            sc = new SerializableConverter(mapper,reflectionProvider);
         }
 
         public boolean canConvert(Class type) {
@@ -102,6 +106,13 @@ public class AxisList extends ArrayList<Axis> {
 
         @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
         public AxisList unmarshal(HierarchicalStreamReader reader, UnmarshallingContext context) {
+            // AxisList used to serialize as custom serialization,
+            // so read it in a compatible fashion.
+            String s = reader.getAttribute("serialization");
+            if(s!=null && s.equals("custom")) {
+                return (AxisList)sc.unmarshal(reader,context);
+            }
+
             // read the items from xml into a list
             List items = new ArrayList();
             while (reader.hasMoreChildren()) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/util/XStream2.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/util/XStream2.java
index 4c3d207f629977e9d14346c4bb3bfbd592fda841..37ac22b7ffc4301b812610c6378d98a82e5a357f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/util/XStream2.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/util/XStream2.java
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ public class XStream2 extends XStream {
         registerConverter(new RobustCollectionConverter(getMapper(),getReflectionProvider()),10);
         registerConverter(new CopyOnWriteList.ConverterImpl(getMapper()),10);
         registerConverter(new DescribableList.ConverterImpl(getMapper()),10);
-        registerConverter(new AxisList.ConverterImpl(getMapper()),10);
+        registerConverter(new AxisList.ConverterImpl(getMapper(),getReflectionProvider()),10);
         registerConverter(new CopyOnWriteMap.Tree.ConverterImpl(getMapper()),10); // needs to override MapConverter
 
         // this should come after all the XStream's default simpler converters,