diff --git a/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_reader.tcl b/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_reader.tcl
index ad72e992..482f6203 100644
--- a/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_reader.tcl
+++ b/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_reader.tcl
@@ -4,16 +4,19 @@ namespace eval config_reader {
   variable version 2.0
 }
 
+# return a list of section names from the dict
 proc config_reader::get_sections {the_dict} {
   upvar 1 $the_dict db
   return [dict keys $db]
 }
 
+# return a list of variables in the named section of the dict
 proc config_reader::get_variables {the_dict section} {
   upvar 1 $the_dict db
   return [dict keys [dict get $db $section]]
 }
 
+# return the value of the named variable in the named section
 proc config_reader::get_var {the_dict section varname} {
   upvar 1 $the_dict db
   set varname [string tolower $varname]
@@ -26,6 +29,7 @@ proc config_reader::get_var {the_dict section varname} {
   return [dict get $db $section $varname]
 }
 
+# add a new section to the dictionary
 proc config_reader::add_section {the_dict section} {
   upvar 1 $the_dict db
 
@@ -34,6 +38,7 @@ proc config_reader::add_section {the_dict section} {
   }
 }
 
+# add a new section/variable and set its value
 proc config_reader::set_var {the_dict section varname value} {
   upvar 1 $the_dict db
   if {![dict exists $db $section]} {
@@ -43,6 +48,7 @@ proc config_reader::set_var {the_dict section varname value} {
   dict set db $section $varname $value
 }
 
+# Load the named configuration file and return the dict
 proc config_reader::parse_file {filename} {
   variable dictionary [dict create]
   variable cursection
@@ -58,11 +64,20 @@ proc config_reader::parse_file {filename} {
         config_reader::add_section dictionary $cursection
       }
       .*=.* {
+        # split on the '=' and trim leading and trailing spaces
         set pair [split $line =]
         set name [string trim [lindex $pair 0] " "]
         set value [string trim [lindex $pair 1] " "]
+        # Remove matching quotes on both ends (single, double and braces)
+        if { [string index $value 0] == "'" && [string index $value end] == "'" } {
+          set value [string range 1 end-1]
+        } elseif { [string index $value 0] == "\"" && [string index $value end] == "\"" } {
+          set value [string range 1 end-1]
+        } elseif { [string index $value 0] == "{" && [string index $value end] == "}" } {
+          set value [string range 1 end-1]
+        }
         config_reader::set_var dictionary $cursection $name $value
-      } 
+      }
       default {
         error "Error parsing $filename (line: $line_no): $line"
         }
@@ -73,21 +88,23 @@ proc config_reader::parse_file {filename} {
   return $dictionary
 }
 
-  proc config_reader::dump {{the_config startup.ini}} {
-    set my_dict [config_reader::parse_file $the_config]
-    puts "Dict: $my_dict"
-    foreach s [config_reader::get_sections my_dict] {
-      set section "$s"
-      puts "\n\[$section\]"
-      foreach n [config_reader::get_variables my_dict $s] {
-        set name "$n"
-        set value "[config_reader::get_var my_dict $section $n]"
-        puts "  $name = $value"
-      }
+# Load the named file with parse_file print and return the dict for testing
+proc config_reader::dump {{the_config startup.ini}} {
+  set my_dict [config_reader::parse_file $the_config]
+  puts "Dict: $my_dict"
+  foreach s [config_reader::get_sections my_dict] {
+    set section "$s"
+    puts "\n\[$section\]"
+    foreach n [config_reader::get_variables my_dict $s] {
+      set name "$n"
+      set value "[config_reader::get_var my_dict $section $n]"
+      puts "  $name = $value"
     }
-    return $my_dict
   }
+  return $my_dict
+}
 
+# This code is for i=unit testing in the tclsh executable
 if { "[lindex [split [info nameofexecutable] "/"] end]" == "tclsh"} {
   set filename "/tmp/test_[pid].ini"
   set sects [list]