diff --git a/validate.py b/validate.py
index ab5b644f..9b2c0f7e 100755
--- a/validate.py
+++ b/validate.py
@@ -296,6 +296,11 @@ def main():
             model_names = list_models(args.model)
             model_cfgs = [(n, '') for n in model_names]
 
+        if not model_cfgs and os.path.isfile(args.model):
+            with open(args.model) as f:
+                model_names = [line.rstrip() for line in f]
+            model_cfgs = [(n, None) for n in model_names if n]
+
     if len(model_cfgs):
         results_file = args.results_file or './results-all.csv'
         _logger.info('Running bulk validation on these pretrained models: {}'.format(', '.join(model_names)))