diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/osg/AsciiStreamOperator.h b/src/osgPlugins/osg/AsciiStreamOperator.h
index 98113d22d..23fb0948c 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/osg/AsciiStreamOperator.h
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/osg/AsciiStreamOperator.h
@@ -278,7 +278,16 @@ public:
     {
         std::string s; readString(s);
         if ( s==str ) return true;
-        else _in->seekg( -(int)(s.length()), std::ios::cur );
+        else 
+        {
+            // originally _in->seekg( -(int)(s.length()), std::ios::cur ); as used but
+            // problems under windows occurred when reading ascii files with unix line endings
+            // rather than ascii files with windows line endings. The workaround for this
+            // problem was to unget each of the characters in term, hacky yes, but at least it
+            // works!
+            for (unsigned int i = 0; i < s.length(); ++i)
+                _in->unget();
+        }
         return false;
     }