diff --git a/ess/TraceWin.py b/ess/TraceWin.py
index e5ee440a7688e45dcbfc059da4e3baafe456c02b..327b97f364db900c7206baeae2354ee79cd86391 100644
--- a/ess/TraceWin.py
+++ b/ess/TraceWin.py
@@ -651,6 +651,8 @@ class partran(dict):
         stream=file(self.filename,'r')
         for i in xrange(10):
             line=stream.readline()
+            if line.strip()[0]=='#':
+                break
         self.columns=['NUM']+line.split()[1:]
         self.data=numpy.loadtxt(stream)