diff --git a/src/frontend/inp.c b/src/frontend/inp.c
index ed9415156..264a95132 100644
--- a/src/frontend/inp.c
+++ b/src/frontend/inp.c
@@ -980,6 +980,11 @@ inp_spsource(FILE *fp, bool comfile, char *filename, bool intfile)
         }
 
         for (dd = deck; dd; dd = dd->nextcard) {
+            /* first line is title line */
+            if (deck == dd) {
+                prev_card = dd;
+                continue;
+            }
             /* all parameter lines should be sequentially ordered and placed at
                beginning of deck */
             if (ciprefix(".para", dd->line)) {